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2Hje Scatemg Classics 


WASHINGTON’S 

FAREWELL ADDRESS 

WEBSTER’S 

FIRST BUNKER HILL ORATION 

LINCOLN’S 

GETTYSBURG ADDRESS 
SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS 


EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES 

BY 

HORACE E. HENDERSON 

9 

HEAD OF ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, PAWLING SCHOOL 



ALLYN and BACON 

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 

ATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO 




El 31Z 

I 7 


COPYRIGHT, 1922 AND 1923, BY 
HORACE E. HENDERSON 


©C1A7C0640 

OCT 3i ’23 


1 




PREFACE 


No group of addresses could better illustrate Ameri¬ 
can political ideas than that contained in this volume. 
As the utterances of three great statesmen, at three 
important periods in our national history, they com¬ 
ine to present a valuable lesson in true American¬ 
ism. 

The first, written at the very beginning of our na¬ 
tional existence, shows prophetic instinct, not only 
is to inevitable dangers, but also as to methods of 
meeting those dangers. The second, written at the 
end of our first half century, emphasizes the impor¬ 
tance of American liberty in its effect upon the world 
at large, and reiterates the duty of maintaining the 
principles upon which that liberty, and all national 
liberty, depends. The third and fourth, written at 
the time when the supreme test of Union was in 
progress, emphasize still more emphatically the duty 
of every American citizen. 

Studied in the order here given and as a group, they 
present a lesson in the patriotic principles of liberty 
and union that every American youth should learn. 

H. E. H. 


m 


May, 1923 


1 






TABLE OF CONTENTS 


WASHINGTON’S FAREWELL ADDRESS 
WEBSTER’S FIRST BUNKER HILL ORATION 
LINCOLN’S GETTYSBURG ADDRESS . 
LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS 

NOTES 

Washington’s Farewell Address 
Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration . 
Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address 
Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address 

QUOTATIONS 

From Washington. 

From Webster. 

From Lincoln. 

OUTLINES 

Farewell Address. 

First Bunker Hill Oration .... 


PAGE 

i 

2 7 
59 

6i 


65 

8o 

9i 

95 

99 

ioo 

102 


103 

105 


V 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Bunker Hill Monument. Frontispiece 

FACING PAGE 

George Washington.1 

Daniel Webster.27 

Abraham Lincoln.59 


vi 












George Washington 




WASHINGTON’S 
FAREWELL ADDRESS 


To the people of the United States. 

Friends and Fellow Citizens : The period for 
a new election of a citizen to administer the execu¬ 
tive government of the United States being not far 
distant, and the time actually arrived when your 
thoughts must be employed in designating the per -5 
son who is to be clothed with that important trust, 
it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce 
to a more distinct expression of the public voice, 
that I should now apprise you of the resolution I 
have formed, to decline being considered among the 10 
number of those out of whom a choice is to be made. 

I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice 
to be assured, that this resolution has not been taken, 
without a strict regard to all the considerations ap¬ 
pertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful is 
citizen to his country; and that, in withdrawing the 
tender of service which silence in my situation might 
imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal 
for your future interest; no deficiency of grateful 
respect for your past kindness; but am supported 20 

I 






Washington's Farewell Address 

by a full conviction that the step is compatible wit! 
both. ; 

The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto * 
in the office to which your suffrages have twice i 
s called me, have been a uniform sacrifice of inclina -1 
tion to the opinion of duty, and to a deference for 
what appeared to be your desire. I constantly hoped 
that it would have been much earlier in my power, 
consistently with motives which I was not at liberty 
o to disregard, to return to that retirement from which 
I had been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my 
inclination to do this, previous to the last election, 
had even led to the preparation of an address to j 
declare it to you; but mature reflection on the 
5 then perplexed and critical posture of our affairs 
with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of 
persons entitled to my confidence, impelled me to 
abandon the idea. 

I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external 
oas well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of 
inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty 
or propriety; and am persuaded, whatever partiality 
may be retained for my services, that, in the present 
circumstances of our country, you will not disapprove 
5 my determination to retire. 

The impressions with which I first undertook the 
arduous trust were explained on the proper occasion. 
In the discharge of this trust, I will only say that 
I have, with good intentions, contributed towards 

2 








Washington’s Farewell Address 


ne organization and administration of the govern- 
lent the best exertions of which a very fallible judg- 
lent was capable. Not unconscious in the outset 
f the inferiority of my qualifications, experience, 

1 my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes ofs 
thers, has strengthened the motives to diffidence 
f myself; and every day the increasing weight 
f years admonishes me more and more, that the 
rade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will 
e welcome. Satisfied that if any circumstances io 
ave given peculiar value to my services they were 
^mporary, I have the consolation to believe that, 
diile choice and prudence invite me to quit the 
olitical scene, patriotism does not forbid it. 

In looking forward to the moment which is to 15 
srminate the career of my political life, my feelings 
0 not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledg- 
lent of that debt of gratitude which I owe to my 
cloved country, for the many honors it has conferred 
ipon me; still more for the steadfast confidence20 
yith which it has supported me; and for the oppor- 
unities I have thence enjoyed of manifesting my 
nviolable attachment, by services faithful and per- 
evering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal, 
f benefits have resulted to our country from these 25 
ervices, let it always be remembered to your praise, 
tnd as an instructive example in our annals, that 
mder circumstances in which the passions, agitated 
n every direction, were liable to mislead, amidst 

3 







Washington’s Farewell Address 


appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of In 


tune often discouraging — in situations in whi 


not unfrequently, want of success has countenan< d 


the spirit of criticism, — the constancy of your si 
s port was the essential prop of the efforts, and a guan 
tee of the plans, by which they were effected. P 
foundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry t 
with me to my grave, as a strong incitement to u 
ceasing vows that heaven may continue to you t 
io choicest tokens of its beneficence — that your uni< 
and brotherly affection may be perpetual — th 
the free constitution, which is the work of your hand 
may be sacredly maintained — that its ad mini 
tration in every department may be stamped wit 
is wisdom and virtue — that, in fine, the happiness < 
the people of these states, under the auspices of lit 
erty, may be made complete by so careful a presei|, f 
vation and so prudent a use of this blessing, as wi 
acquire to them the glory of recommending it t 
20 the applause, the affection, and adoption of ever 
nation which is yet a stranger to it. 

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitud 
for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life 
and the apprehension of danger, natural to that so 
2slicitude, urge me, on an occasion like the present 
to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recom¬ 
mend to your frequent review, some sentiments 
which are the result of much reflection, of no incon¬ 
siderable observation, and which appear to me al 

4 


jii 
















Washington’s Farewell Address 


f 


'i 


ra 


Pr. 

fy 


nportant to the permanency of your felicity as a 
eople. These will be offered to you with the more 
eedom, as you can only see in them the disinter¬ 
red warnings of a parting friend, who can possibly 
ave no personal motive to bias his counsel. Nor 5 
m I forget, as an encouragement to it, your indul- 
nt reception of my sentiments on a former and 
U! ot dissimilar occasion. 

1 Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every 
J gament of your hearts, no recommendation of 10 
^ a iine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attach¬ 


ment. 


The unity of government, which constitutes you 
]t [ne people, is also now dear to you. It is justly so; 

>r it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real inde-15 
®endence; the support of your tranquillity at home: 

our peace abroad; of your safety; of your pros¬ 
perity; of that very liberty which you so highly 
But as it is easy to foresee that, from differ- 


nze. 


nt causes and from different quarters much pains 20 
/ill be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken 
n your minds the conviction of this truth; as this 
"s the point in your political fortress against which 
|he batteries of internal and external enemies will be 
nost constantly and actively (though often covertly 25 
tmd insidiously) directed; it is of infinite moment 
hat you should properly estimate the immense value 
>f your national union to your collective and indi¬ 
vidual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, 

5 








Washington’s Farewell Address 


habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustor. 
ing jmurselves to think and speak of it as of tl 
palladium of your political safety and prosperitj 
watching for its preservation with jealous anxiet} 
s discountenancing whatever may suggest even 
suspicion that it can, in any event, be abandoned 
and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning c 
every attempt to alienate any portion of our countr 
from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties whic. 
io now link together the various parts. 

For this you have every inducement of sympathy 
and interest. Citizens by birth or choice of a com 
mon country, that country has a right to concentrat* 
your affections. The name of American, which be 
15 longs to you in your national capacity, must always 
exalt the just pride of patriotism, more than any ap¬ 
pellation derived from local discriminations. With 
slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, 
manners, habits, and political principle. You have, 
20 in a common cause, fought and triumphed together; 
the independence and liberty you possess are the 
work of joint counsels and joint efforts, of common 
dangers, sufferings, and successes. 

But these considerations, however powerfully 
25 they address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly 
outweighed by those which apply more immediately 
to your interest. Here, every portion of our coun¬ 
try finds the most commanding motives for carefully 
guarding and preserving the union of the whole. 

6 












Washington’s Farewell Address 


tj The North , in an unrestrained intercourse with 
he South , protected by the equal laws of a common 
government, finds in the productions of the latter 
s -jreat additional resources of maritime and commercial 
enterprise, and precious materials of manufacturings 
j: ndustry. The South , in the same intercourse, 
r >enefiting by the same agency of the North , sees its 
agriculture grow and its commerce expand. Tuni¬ 
ng partly into its own channels the seamen of the 
Vorth, it finds its particular navigation invigorated; io 
tnd, while it contributes, in different ways, to nourish 
md increase the general mass of the national navi¬ 
gation, it looks forward to the protection of a maritime 
trength, to which itself is unequally adapted. The 
Zast, in a like intercourse with the West , already finds, 15 
tnd in the progressive improvement of interior com- 
nunications by land and water, will more and more 
ind a valuable vent for the commodities which it 
irings from abroad, or manufactures at home. The 
Vest derives from the East , supplies requisite to its 20 
growth and comfort — and what is perhaps of still 
greater consequence, it must of necessity owe the 
secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its 
iwn productions to the weight, influence, and the 
uture maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the 25 
Jnion, directed by an indissoluble community of 
nterest as one nation. Any other tenure by which 
:he West can hold this essential advantage, whether 
lerived from its own separate strength or from an 

7 








Washington’s Farewell Address 


apostate and unnatural connection with any foreii 
power, must be intrinsically precarious. 

While then every part of our country thus fed 
an immediate and particular interest in union, ;| 
5 the parts combined cannot fail to find in the unit* 
mass of means and efforts greater strength, great! 
resource, proportionably greater security from extej 
nal danger, a less frequent interruption of their pea<| 
by foreign nations; and, what is of inestimable valu I 
io they must derive from union an exemption from thosf 
broils and wars between themselves, which so frO 
quently afflict neighboring countries not tied togethf 
by the same government, which their own rivalshi 
alone would be sufficient to produce, but which op5 
is posite foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues! 
would stimulate and embitter. Hence likewise! 
they will avoid the necessity of those overgrowi 
military establishments, which under any form o 
government are inauspicious to liberty, and whicl 
20 are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republi¬ 
can liberty. In this sense it is, that your unior 
ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty 
and that the love of the one ought to endear to yoi 
the preservation of the other. 

25 These considerations speak a persuasive lan¬ 
guage to every reflecting and virtuous mind, anc 
exhibit the continuance of the union as a primar) 
object of patriotic desire. Is there a doubt whethe] 
a common government can embrace so large a sphere i 

8 





Washington’s Farewell Address 


reijit experience solve it. To listen to mere speculation 
such a case were criminal. We are authorized to 
ee»pe that a proper organization of the whole, with the 
auxiliary agency of governments for the respective 
iitebdivisions, will afford a happy issue to the ex- 5 
atmment. It is well worth a fair and full experiment, 
ith such powerful and obvious motives to union, 
fecting all parts of our country, while experience 
utr all not have demonstrated its impracticability, 
ere will always be reason to distrust the patriotism 10 
those who, in any quarter, may endeavor to weaken 
$ hands. 


■at 


n 


m 


In contemplating the causes which may disturb 
dir Union, it occurs as matter of serious concern, 
a at any ground should have been furnished for char- is 
a Terizing parties by geographical discriminations, — 

7 or them and Southern — Atlantic and Western; whence 
^signing men may endeavor to excite a belief that 
lere is a real difference of local interests and views, 
line of the expedients of party to acquire influence 20 
ill ithin particular districts, is to misrepresent the opin- 
j <ns and aims of other districts. You cannot shield 
{ourselves too much against the jealousies and heart- 
urnings which spring from these misrepresentations: 
ley tend to render alien to each other those who 25 
aght to be bound together by fraternal affection, 
he inhabitants of our western country have lately 
ad a useful lesson on this head: they have seen, in 
le negotiation by the executive, and in the unani- 












Washington's Farewell Address 


mous ratification by the senate of the treaty wi 
Spain, and in the universal satisfaction at the evei 
throughout the United States, a decisive proof ho 
unfounded were the suspicions propagated amor j 
5 them of a policy in the general government and i 
the Atlantic states, unfriendly to their interests i 
regard to the Mississippi. They have been witnesse 
to the formation of two treaties, that with Grea 
Britain and that with Spain, which secure to ther| 
io everything they could desire, in respect to our foreig: 
relations, towards confirming their prosperity. Wl 
it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservatio] 
of these advantages on the union by which thej 
were procured? Will they not henceforth be deaf t< 
is those advisers, if such they are, who would seve: 
them from their brethren and connect them wit! 
aliens ? 

To the efficacy and permanency of your Union 
a government for the whole is indispensable. Nc. 
20 alliances, however strict, between the parts can be 
an adequate substitute; they must inevitably ex¬ 
perience the infractions and interruptions which all 
alliances, in all times, have experienced. Sensible 
of this momentous truth, you have improved upon 
25 your first essay, by the adoption of a constitution of 
government better calculated than your former 
for an intimate union, and for the efficacious man¬ 
agement of your common concerns. This government, 
the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and 












Washington's Farewell Address 


mawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature 
[eliberation, completely free in its principles, in the 
istribution of its powers, uniting security with en- 
rgy, and containing within itself a provision for its 
wn amendment, has a just claim to your confidence 5 
! ,nd your support. Respect for its authority, compli¬ 
ance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are 
duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true 
iberty. (The basis of our political systems is the 
j ight of the people to make and to alter their con-10 
.,,,] titutions of government But the constitution 
which at any time exists, until changed by an explicit 

3j 

ind authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly 
)bligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and 
he right of the people to establish government, is 
)resupposes the duty of every individual to obey 
;he established government. 

All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all 
:ombinations and associations under whatever plausi¬ 
ble character, with the real design to direct, control, 20 
:ounteract, or awe the regular deliberations and action 
bf the constituted authorities, are destructive of this 
fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They 
[serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and 
' extraordinary force, to put in the place of the dele- 25 
gated will of the nation the will of party, often a 
small but artful and enterprising minority of the 
community; and, according to the alternate triumphs 
of different parties, to make the public administra- 








Washington’s Farewell Address 


tion the mirror of the ill concerted and incongruon 
projects of faction, rather than the organ of consist 
ent and wholesome plans digested by common coun 
cils and modified by mutual interests. Howeve 
s combinations or associations of the above descrip 
tion may now and then answer popular ends, the< 
are likely, in the course of time and things, to becoms 
potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, anc 
unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert tht 
io power of the people, and to usurp for themselves tht 
reins of government; destroying afterwards the very 
engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion 
Towards the preservation of your government 
and the permanency of your present happy state 
is it is requisite, not only that you steadily discounte¬ 
nance irregular opposition to its acknowledged author¬ 
ity, but also that you resist with care the spirit of 
innovation upon its principles, however specious the 
pretext. One method of assault may be to effect, 
20 in the forms of the constitution, alterations which 
will impair the energy of the system, and thus to 
undermine w^at cannot be directly overthrown. 
In all the chan|jes to which you may be invited, re¬ 
member that tinfe and habit are at least as necessary 
25 to fix the true character of governments, as of other 
human institutions; that experience is the surest 
standard by which to test the real tendency of the 
existing constitution of a country; that facility 
in changes, upon the credit of mere hypothesis and 





Washington’s Farewell Address 


pinion, exposes to perpetual change from the endless 
! ariety of hypothesis and opinion: and remember, 
specially, that, for the efficient management of your 
Dmmon interests in a country so extensive as ours, a 
overnment of as much vigor as is consistent with the s 
erfect security of liberty is indispensable. Liberty 
self will find in such a government, with powers 
roperly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian, 
t is, indeed, little else than a name, where the govern- 
lent is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of fac- io 
: xrn, to confine each member of the society within 
le limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain 
11 in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights 
f person and property. 

I have already intimated to you the danger of is 
arties in the state, with particular references to the 
Dunding them on geographical discrimination. Let 
le now take a more comprehensive view, and warn 
ou in the most solemn manner against the baneful 
ffects of the spirit of party generally. 20 

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our 
.ature, having its root in the strongest passions of 
he human mind. It exists under different shapes in 
jll governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or 
epressed; but in those of the popular form it is seen 25 
a its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy. 

The alternate domination of one faction over 
mother, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural 
o party dissension, which in different ages and 

13 











Washington’s Farewell Address 


countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities 
is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads a 
length to a more formal and permanent despotism! 
The disorders and miseries which result, gradually 
s incline the minds of men to seek security and re 
pose in the absolute power of an individual; and 
sooner or later, the chief of some prevailing faction 
more able or more fortunate than his competitors 
turns this disposition to the purpose of his owe 
io elevation on the ruins of public liberty. 

Without looking forward to an extremity of this 
kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely 
out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs 
of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the 
is interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and 
restrain it. 

It serves always to distract the public councils, and 
enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the com¬ 
munity with ill founded jealousies and false alarms; 
20kindles the animosity of one part against another; 
foments occasional riot and insurrection. It opens 
the door to foreign influence and corruption, which 
find a facilitated access to the government itself 
through the channels of party passions. Thus the 
25 policy and the will of one country are subjected to 
the policy and will of another. 

There is an opinion that parties in free countries 
are useful checks upon the administration of the 
government, and serve to keep alive the spirit of 

14 





Washington’s Farewell Address 


berty. This within certain limits is probably true; 
nd in governments of a monarchial cast, patriotism 
aay look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon 
he spirit of party. But in those of the popular 
haracter, in governments purely elective, it is as 
pirit not to be encouraged. From their natural 
endency, it is certain there will always be enough 
>f that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there 
)eing constant danger of excess, the effort ought 
;o be, by force of public opinion, to mitigate and as- io 
mage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a 
miform vigilance to prevent it bursting into a flame, 
est, instead of warming, it should consume. 

It is important likewise, that the habits of think¬ 
ing in a free country should inspire caution in those in-15 
trusted with its administration, to confine themselves 
within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding 
in the exercise of the powers of one department, to en¬ 
croach upon another. The spirit of encroachment 
tends to consolidate the powers of all the depart- 20 
ments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form 
of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of 
that love of power and proneness to abuse it which 
predominate in the human heart, is sufficient to sat¬ 
isfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity 25 
of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, 
by dividing and distributing it into different deposito¬ 
ries, and constituting each the guardian of the public 
weal against invasions of the others, has been evinced 

IS 







Washington’s Farewell Address 


|Ci 


by experiments ancient and modern, some of then 
in our country and under our own eyes. To pre 
serve them must be as necessary as to institute them 
If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution o 
s modification of the constitutional powers be in an 
particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendmen 
in the way which the constitution designates. Bu 
let there be no change by usurpation; for thou 
this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, 
10 it is the customary weapon by which free governments 
are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly 
overbalance in permanent evil any partial or tran¬ 
sient benefit which the use can at any time yield. 

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to 
is political prosperity, religion and morality are indis¬ 
pensable supports. In vain would^tKaF man claim 
the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to sub¬ 
vert these great pillars of human happiness, these 
firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The 
20 mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought 
to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not 
trace all their connections with private and public 
felicity. Let it simply be asked, where is the security 
for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of 
as religious obligation desert the oaths which are the 
instruments of investigation in courts of justice? 
And let us with caution indulge the supposition that 
morality can be maintained without religion. What¬ 
ever may be conceded to the influence of refined 

16 













Washington’s Farewell Address 


ducation on minds of peculiar structure, reason and 
xperience both forbid us to expect that national 
norality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. 

It is substantially true that virtue or morality 
3 a necessary spring of popular government. Thes 
ule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every 
pecies of free government. Who that is a sincere 
riend to it can look with indifference upon attempts 
o shake the foundation of the fabric ? 

Promote, then, as an object of primary impor-io 
ance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowl¬ 
edge. In proportion as the structure of a govern- 
nent gives force to public opinion, it should be 
enlightened. 

As a very important source of strength and se-15 
;urity, cherish public credit. One method of pre¬ 
serving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoid¬ 
ing occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but 
remembering, also, that timely disbursements, to 
prepare for danger, frequently prevent much greater 20 
disbursements to repel it; avoiding likewise the 
accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions 
of expense, but by vigorous exertions, in time of 
peace, to discharge the debts which unavoidable 
wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throw- 25 
ing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves 
ought to bear. The execution of these maxims 
belongs to your representatives, but it is necessary 
that public opinion should co-operate. To facili— 

17 





Washington’s Farewell Address 


It 


f 

SKI 


S' 


tate to them the performance of their duty, it 
essential that you should practically bear in min 
that towards the payment of debts there must t 
revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes 
s that no taxes can be devised which are not more c 
less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrins: 
embarrassment inseparable from the selection of th 
proper object (which is always a choice of difficu 
ties), ought to be a decisive motive for a candi 
io construction of the conduct of the government i: i ; 
making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the meas a 
ures for obtaining revenue, which the public exigen 
cies may at any time dictate. 

Observe good faith and justice towards all nations 
is cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religioil 
and morality enjoin this conduct, and can it be thai 
good policy does not equally enjoin it? It will be 
worthy of a free, enlightened, and, at no distant pe¬ 
riod, a great nation, to give to mankind the mag- 
20 nanimous and too novel example of a people always 
guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who 
can doubt but, in the course of time and things, 
the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any 
temporary advantages which might be lost by a 
25 steady adherence to it? Can it be that Providence 
has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation 
with its virtue? The experiment, at least, is recom¬ 
mended by every sentiment which ennobles human 
nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices ? 

18 










Washington’s Farewell Address 


1 In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more 
Essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies 
gainst particular nations and passionate attach¬ 
ments for others should be excluded; and that, in 
dace of them, just and amicable feelings towards s 
,11 should be cultivated. The nation which indulges 
owards another an habitual hatred, or an habitual 
ondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to 
ts animosity or to its affection, either of which is 
ufficient to lead it astray from its duty and itsio 
nterest. Antipathy in one nation against another 
lisposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, 
o lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be 
laughty and intractable when accidental or trifling 
>ccasions of dispute occur. Hence, frequent colli- is 
ions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. 
The nation, prompted by ill will and resentment, 
iometimes impels to war the government, contrary 
;o the best calculations of policy. The government 
some times participates in the national propensity, 20 
ind adopts through passion what reason would re¬ 
ject; at other times, it makes the animosity of the 
lation subservient to projects of hostility, instigated 
Dy pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious 
motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the 25 
iberty of nations, has been the victim. 

So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation 
tor another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy 
ior the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of 

19 






Washington’s Farewell Address 


an imaginary common interest, in cases where no 
common interest exists, and infusing into one th 
enmities of the other, betrays the former into a 
ticipation in the quarrels and wars of the 
5 without adequate inducements or justifications, 
leads also to concessions, to the favorite nation, 
privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly t( 
injure the nation making the concessions, by un¬ 
necessarily parting with what ought to have beer 
io retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill will, and a 
disposition to retaliate in the parties from whom 
equal privileges are withheld; and it gives to ambi¬ 
tious, corrupted, or deluded citizens who devote 
themselves to the favorite nation, facility to betray 
is or sacrifice the interests of their own country, with 
out odium, sometimes even with popularity; gild¬ 
ing with the appearances of a virtuous sense of ob-p 
ligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, 
or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish |p 
20 compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation. 

As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable 
ways, such attachments are particularly alarming 
to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. 
How many opportunities do they afford to tamper 
2s with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduc¬ 
tion, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe 
the public councils! Such an attachment of a 
small or weak towards a great and powerful nation, 
dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter. 


20 












Washington’s Farewell Address 


Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence, 
t|t conjure you to believe me, fellow citizens), the 
'apalousy of a free people ought to be constantly 
to wake; since history and experience prove that 
breign influence is one of the most baneful foes ofs 
^publican government. But that jealousy, to be 
tc seful, must be impartial, else it becomes the instru- 
JQ lent of the very influence to be avoided, instead of 
ei defense against it. Excessive partiality for one 
3 ireign nation and excessive dislike for another, io 
mause those whom they actuate to see danger only 
i n one side, and serve to veil and even second the 
tarts of influence on the other. Real patriots, who 
j iay resist the intrigues of the favorite, are liable to 
ij ecome suspected and odious; while its tools and dupes 15 
surp the applause and confidence of the people, 
a surrender their interests. 


)• 


The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to for- 
ign nations, is, in extending our commercial rela- 
ions, to have with them as little political connec- 20 
ion as possible. So far as we have already formed 
Engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good 
, kith. Here let us stop. 

h Europe has a set of primary interests, which to 
■ .s have none, or a very remote relation. Hence, 25 
: he must be engaged in frequent controversies, the 
auses of which are essentially foreign to our con- 
1 :erns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us 
o implicate ourselves, by artificial ties, in the ordi- 







Washington’s Farewell Address 


nary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordina 
combinations and collisions of her friendships 
enmities. 

Our detached and distant situation invites ai 
s enables us to pursue a different course. If we r 
main one people, under an efficient governmeri 
the period is not far off when we may defy materi 
injury from external annoyance; when we may tal 
such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we mz 
io at any time resolve upon, to be scrupulously respectec 
when belligerent nations, under the impossibility » 
making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazai 
the giving us provocation, when we may choos 
peace or war, as our interest, guided by justic 
is shall counsel. 

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situ; 
tion? Why quit our own to stand upon foreig 
ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny wit 
that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace an 
20 prosperity in the toils of European ambition, riva 
ship, interest, humor, or caprice ? 

It is our true policy to steer clear of permanen 
alliance with any portion of the foreign world; s 
far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; fo 
25 let me not be understood as capable of patronizin, 
infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxin 
no less applicable to public than private affairs 
that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it 
therefore, let those engagements be observed in thei 

22 











Washington’s Farewell Address 


a . -p» , • . . . 

3nuine sense. But m my opinion, it is unnecessary, 
ad would be unwise to extend them. 

Taking care always to keep ourselves by suitable 
stablishments, on a respectable defensive posture, 
r e may safely trust to temporary alliances for ex-s 
‘inordinary emergencies. 

Harmony and a liberal intercourse with all nations, 

11 re recommended by policy, humanity, and interest, 
iut even our commercial policy should hold an equal 
nd impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting io 
xclusive favors or preferences; consulting the nat¬ 
ural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by 
J entle means the streams of commerce, but forcing 
C LOthing; establishing with powers so disposed, in 
>rder to give trade a stable course, to define the is 
J Tghts of our merchants, and to enable the govern¬ 
ment to support them, conventional rules of inter¬ 
course, the best that present circumstances and mu¬ 
tual opinion will permit, but temporary, and liable 
to be from time to time abandoned or varied as 20 
experience and circumstances shall dictate; con¬ 
stantly keeping in view, that it is folly in one nation 
:o look for disinterested favors from another; that 
t must pay with a portion of its independence for 
whatever it may accept under that character; that25 
by such acceptance, it may place itself in the condi¬ 
tion of having given equivalents for nominal favors, 
and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for 
not giving more. There can be no greater error 

23 




Washington’s Farewell Address 


than to expect or calculate upon real favors froi 5 
nation to nation. It is an illusion which experienc 
must cure, which a just pride ought to discard. 

In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsel 
sof an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hop 
they will make the strong and lasting impressio] 
I could wish; that they will control the usual curren 
of the passions, or prevent our nation from running' 
the course which has hitherto marked the destiny o 
io nations, but if I may even flatter myself that the) 
may be productive of some partial benefit, some oc 
casional good; that they may now and then recui 
to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against 
the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against 
is the impostures of pretended patriotism; this hope 
will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your 
welfare by which they have been dictated. 

How far, in the discharge of my official duties, I 
have been guided by the principles which have been 
20 delineated, the public records and other evidences 
of my conduct must witness to you and to the world. 
To myself, the assurance of my own conscience is, 
that I have, at least, believed myself to be guided 
by them. 

25 In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, 
my proclamation of the 22d of April, 1793, is the 
index to my plan. Sanctioned by your approving 
voice, and by that of your representatives in both 
houses of congress, the spirit of that measure has 

24 








Washington’s Farewell Address 


mtinually governed me, uninfluenced by any at- 
rnipts to deter or divert me from it. 

After deliberate examination, with the aid of the 
est lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied that* 
ur country, under all the circumstances of the case, 5 
ad a right to take, and was bound, in duty and in¬ 
vest, to take a neutral position. Having taken it, 
determined, as far as should depend upon me, to 
laintain it with moderation, perseverance, and firm- 
ess. 10 

The considerations which respect the right to hold 
his conduct, it is not necessary on this occasion to 
etail. I will only observe that, according to my 
nderstanding of the matter, that right, so far from 
eing denied by any of the belligerent powers, has 15 
een virtually admitted by all. 

The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be 
if erred, without any thing more, from the obliga¬ 
tion which justice and humanity impose on every 
ation, in cases in which it is free to act, to maintain 20 
lviolate the relations of peace and amity towards 
ther nations. 

The inducements of interest for observing that con- 
uct will best be referred to your own reflections 
nd experience. With me, a predominant motive 25 
Las been to endeavor to gain time to our country 
0 settle and mature its yet recent institutions, and 
0 progress, without interruption, to that degree of 
trength and consistency which is necessary to give 

25 








Washington’s Farewell Address 


it, humanly speaking, the command of its owr 
fortunes. 

Though in reviewing the incidents of my adminis 
| tration, I am unconscious of intentional error, ! 
sam nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to 
think it probable that I may have committed many 
errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech 
the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which 
they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope 
10 that my country will never cease to view them with 
indulgence; and that, after forty-five years of my 
life dedicated to its service, with an upright zeal, 
the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned 
to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions 
15 of rest. 

Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, 
and actuated by that fervent love towards it, which 
is so natural to a man who views in it the native soil 
of himself and his progenitors for several generations, 
20 1 anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat 
in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, 
the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of 
my fellow citizens, the benign influence of good 
laws under a free government — the ever favorite 
25 object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, 
of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers. 

Geo. Washington. 

United States. 

17th September , 1796. 


26 





















Daniel Webster 




WEBSTER’S 

FIRST BUNKER HILL ORATION 


This uncounted multitude before me and around 
me proves the feeling which the occasion has excited. 
These thousands of human faces, glowing with sym¬ 
pathy and joy, and, from the impulses of a common 
gratitude, turned reverently to heaven, in the spacious 5 
temple of the firmament, proclaim that the day, the 
place, and the purpose of our assembling have made a 
deep impression on our hearts. 

If, indeed, there be any thing in local association 
fit to affect the mind of man, we need not strive to re-10 
press the emotions which agitate us here. We are 
among the sepulchres of our fathers. We are on 
ground distinguished by their valor, their constancy, 
and the shedding of their blood. We are here, not to 
fix an uncertain date in our annals, nor to draw into 15 
notice an obscure and unknown spot. If our humble 
purpose had never been conceived, if we ourselves had 
never been born, the 17th of June 1775 would have 
been a day on which all subsequent history would have 

27 






Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


poured its light, and the eminence where we stand, 
a point of attraction to the eyes of successive genera¬ 
tions. But we are Americans. We live in what may 
be called the early age of this great continent; and 
s we know that our posterity, through all time, are 
here to suffer and enjoy the allotments of humanity. 
We see before us a probable train of great events; 
we know that our own fortunes have been happily cast; 
and it is natural, therefore, that we should be moved 
io by the contemplation of occurrences which have 
guided our destiny before many of us were born, 
and settled the condition in which we should pass 
that portion of our existence which God allows to 
men on earth. 

15 We do not read even of the discovery of this conti¬ 
nent, without feeling something of a personal interest 
in the event; without being reminded how much it 
has affected our own fortunes, and our own existence. 
It is more impossible for us, therefore, than for others, 
20 to contemplate with unaffected minds that interest¬ 
ing, I may say, that most touching and pathetic 
scene, when the great Discoverer of America stood 
on the deck of his shattered bark, the shades of night 
falling on the sea, yet no man sleeping; tossed on the 
25 billows of an unknown ocean, yet the stronger billows 
of alternate hope and despair tossing his own troubled 
thoughts; extending forward his harassed frame, 
straining westward his anxious and eager eyes, till 
Heaven at last granted him a moment of rapture and 

28 




Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


ecstasy, in blessing his vision with the sight of the 
mknown world. 

Nearer to our times, more closely connected with 
)ur fates, and therefore still more interesting to our 
'eelings and affections, is the settlement of our owns 
;ountry by colonists from England. We cherish every 
nemorial of these worthy ancestors; we celebrate 
:heir patience and fortitude; we admire their daring 
enterprise; we teach our children to venerate their 
fiety; and we are justly proud of being descended io 
: rom men who have set the world an example of 
funding civil institutions on the great and united 
Drinciples of human freedom and human knowl- 
3dge. To us, their children, the story of their labors 
md sufferings can never be without its interest, is 
We shall not stand unmoved on the shore of Plymouth, 
while the sea continues to wash it; nor will our breth¬ 
ren in another early and ancient colony forget the 
place of its first establishment, till their river shall 
[cease to flow by it. No vigor of youth, no maturity 20 
cf manhood, will lead the nation to forget the spots 
where its infancy was cradled and defended. 

: r But the great event, in the history of the continent, 
which we are now met here to commemorate; that 
prodigy of modern times, at once the wonder and the 25 
blessing of the world, is the American Revolution. 

In a day of extraordinary prosperity and happiness, of 
high national honor, distinction, and power, we are 
brought together, in this place, by our love of coun- 

29 






Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


try, by our admiration of exalted character, by oui 
gratitude for signal services and patriotic devotion 
£ The society whose organ I am, was formed for 
the purpose of rearing some honorable and durable 
s monument to the memory of the early friends of 
American Independence. They have thought that 
for this object no time could be more propitious than 
the present prosperous and peaceful period; that no 
place could claim preference over this memorable spot; 
io and that no day could be more auspicious to the un¬ 
dertaking than the anniversary of the battle which 
was here fought. The foundation of that monument 
we have now laid. With solemnities suited to the 
occasion, with prayers to Almighty God for his bless- 
ising, and in the midst of this cloud of witnesses, we 
have begun the work. We trust it will be prosecuted; 
and that, springing from a broad foundation, rising 
high in massive solidity and unadorned grandeur, 
it may remain, as long as Heaven permits the works 
20 of man to last, a fit emblem, both of the events in 
memory of which it is raised, and of the gratitude of 
those who have reared it. 

We know, indeed, that the record of illustrious ac¬ 
tions is most safely deposited in the universal remem- 
25 brance of mankind. Wb know that, if we could cause 
this structure to ascend, not only till it reached the 
skies, but till it pierced them, its broad surfaces could 
still contain but part of that, which, in an age of knowl¬ 
edge, hath already been spread over the earth, and 

30 















Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


which history charges itself with making known to all 
future times. We know that no inscription on en¬ 
tablatures less broad than the earth itself, can carry 
information of the events we commemorate, where it 
has not already gone; and that no structure which s 
, shall not outlive the duration of letters and knowledge 
among men, can prolong the memorial. But our 
object is, by this edifice to show our own deep sense 
of the value and importance of the achievements of 
our ancestors; and, by presenting this work of grati- io 
tude to the eye, to keep alive similar sentiments, and 
to foster a constant regard for the principles of the 
Revolution. Human beings are composed not of 
reason only, but of imagination also, and sentiment; 
and that is neither wasted nor misapplied which is 15 
appropriated to the purpose of giving right direction 
to sentiments, and opening proper springs of feeling 
in the heart. Let it not be supposed that our object 
is to perpetuate national hostility, or even to cherish 
a mere military spirit. It is higher, purer, nobler. 20 
We consecrate our work to the spirit of national in¬ 
dependence, and we wish that the light of peace may 
rest upon it forever. We rear a memorial of our 
conviction of that unmeasured benefit which has 
been conferred on our own land, and of the happy 25 
influences which have been produced, by the same 
events, on the general interests of mankind. We 
come, as Americans, to mark a spot which must for¬ 
ever be dear to us and our posterity. We wish that 

31 



Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


whosoever, in all coming time, shall turn his eye hither 
may behold that the place is not undistinguished 
where the first great battle of the Revolution was 
fought. We wish that this structure may proclaim 
5 the magnitude and importance of that event, to every 
class and every age. We wish that infancy may 
learn the purpose of its erection from maternal lips, 
and that weary and withered age may behold it, and 
be solaced by the recollections which it suggests, 
io We wish that labor may look up here, and be proud, 
in the midst of its toil. We wish that, in those days 
of disaster, which, as they come on all nations, must 
be expected to come on us also, desponding patriotism 
may turn its eyes hitherward, and be assured that 
15 the foundations of our national power still stand strong. 
We wish that this column rising towards heaven 
among the pointed spires of so many temples dedicated 
to God, may contribute also to produce, in all minds, 
a pious feeling of dependence and gratitude. We 
20 wish, finally, that the last object on the sight of him 
who leaves his native shore, and the first to gladden his 
who revisits it, may be something which shall remind 
him of the liberty and the glory of his country. Let 
it rise, till it meet the sun in his coming; let the 
25 earliest light of the morning gild it, and parting day 
linger and play on its summit. 

We live in a most extraordinary age. Events so 
various and so important that they might crowd and 
distinguish centuries, are, in our times, compressed 

32 



Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 

within the compass of a single life. When has it 
happened that history has had so much to record, in 
the same term of years, as since the 17th of June 1775 ? 
Our own Revolution, which, under other circum¬ 
stances, might itself have been expected to occasion 5 
a war of half a century, has been achieved; twenty- 
four sovereign and independent states erected; and a 
general government established over them, so safe, 
so wise, so free, so practical, that we might well won¬ 
der its establishment should have been accomplished 10 
so soon, were it not far the greater wonder that it 
should have been established at all. Two or three 
millions of people have been augmented to twelve; 
and the great forests of the West prostrated beneath 
the arm of successful industry; and the dwellers on 15 
the banks of the Ohio and the Mississippi become the 
fellow citizens and neighbors of those who cultivate 
the hills of New England. We have a commerce 
that leaves no sea unexplored; navies which take 
no law from superior force; revenues adequate to 20 
all the exigencies of government almost without tax¬ 
ation ; and peace with all nations, founded on equal 
rights and mutual respect. 

Europe, within the same period, has been agitated 
by a mighty revolution, which, while it has been felt 25 
in the individual condition and happiness of almost 
every man, has shaken to the centre her political 
fabric, and dashed against one another thrones 
which had stood tranquil for ages. On this, our con- 

33 





Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


tinent, our own example has been followed; and 
colonies have sprung up to be nations. Unaccus¬ 
tomed sounds of liberty and free government have 
reached us from beyond the track of the sun; and at 
s this moment the dominion of European power, in 
this continent, from the place where we stand to the 
south pole, is annihilated forever. 

In the mean time, both in Europe and America, 
such has been the general progress of knowledge; 
io such the improvements in legislation, in commerce, 
in the arts, in letters, and above all in liberal ideas 
and the general spirit of the age, that the whole world 
seems changed. 

Yet, notwithstanding that this is but a faint ab- 
isstract of the things which have happened since the 
day of the battle of Bunker Hill, we are but fifty 
years removed from it; and we now stand here, to 
enjoy all the blessings of our own condition, and to 
look abroad on the brightened prospects of the world, 
20 while we hold still among us some of those who were 
active agents in the scenes of 1775, and who are now 
here, from every quarter of New England, to visit, 
once more, and under circumstances so affecting, I 
had almost said so overwhelming, this renowned 
25 theatre of their courage and patriotism. 

Venerable Men ! you have come down to us, 
from a former generation. Heaven has bounteously 
lengthened out your lives, that you might behold this 
joyous day. You are now where you stood, fifty 

34 







Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


years ago this very hour, with your brothers and your 
$i neighbors, shoulder to shoulder, in the strife for your 
country. Behold, how altered! The same heavens 
are indeed over your heads; the same ocean rolls 
at your feet; but all else, how changed ! You hear 5 
e now no roar of hostile cannon, you see no mixed vol¬ 
umes of smoke and flame rising from burning Charles¬ 
town. The ground strewed with the dead and the 
dying; the impetuous charge; the steady and suc¬ 
cessful repulse; the loud call to repeated assault; 10 
the summoning of all that is manly to repeated resist¬ 
ance ; a thousand bosoms freely and fearlessly bared 
in an instant to whatever of terror there may be in 
war and death; — all these you have witnessed, but 
you witness them no more. All is peace. The is 
heights of yonder metropolis, its towers and roofs, 
which you then saw filled with wives and children 
and countrymen in distress and terror, and looking 
with unutterable emotions for the issue of the combat, 
have presented you to-day with the sight of its whole 20 
happy population, come out to welcome and greet 
you with an universal jubilee. Yonder proud ships, 
by a felicity of position appropriately lying at the 
, foot of this mount, and seeming fondly to cling around 
it, are not means of annoyance to you, but your 25 
country’s own means of distinction and defence. 
All is peace; and God has granted you this sight of 
your country’s happiness, ere you slumber in the 
grave forever. He has allowed you to behold and to 

35 







Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 




partake the reward of your patriotic toils; and he hi 
allowed us, your sons and countrymen, to meet yc 
here, and in the name of the present generation, i 
the name of your country, in the name of liberty, 1 j 
s thank you! 

But, alas! you are not all here! Time and th 
sword have thinned your ranks. Prescott, Putnan 
Stark, Brooks, Read, Pomeroy, Bridge! our eye 
seek for you in vain amidst this broken band. Yo 
ioare gathered to your fathers, and live only to you 
country in her grateful remembrance, and your owi 
bright example. But let us not too much grieve 
that you have met the common fate of men. Yoi 
lived, at least, long enough to know that your worl 
is had been nobly and successfully accomplished 
You lived to see your country’s independence estab I; 
lished, and to sheathe your swords from war. Or 
the light of Liberty you saw arise the light of Peace 
like 

‘another morn, 

Risen on mid-noon— 


20 


and the sky on which you closed your eyes was 
cloudless. 

But — ah! — Him! the first great Martyr in this 
2s great cause! Him! the premature victim of his 
own self-devoting heart! Him ! the head of our civil 
councils, and the destined leader of our military bands ; 
whom nothing brought hither but the unquenchable 
fire of his own spirit; Him! cut off by Providence, 














Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


Bh the hour of overwhelming anxiety and thick gloom; 
milling, ere he saw the star of his country rise; pour¬ 
ing out his generous blood, like water, before he knew 
Whether it would fertilize a land of freedom or of 
•ondage! how shall I struggle with the emotions, 5 
.hat stifle the utterance of thy name! — Our poor 
i /ork may perish; but thine shall endure ! This mon¬ 
ument may moulder away; the solid ground it rests 
ipon may sink down to a level with the sea; but thy 
memory shall not fail! Wheresoever among men a 10 
leart shall be found that beats to the transports of 
latriotism and liberty, its aspirations shall be to 
:laim kindred with thy spirit! 

But the scene amidst which we stand does not per¬ 
mit us to confine our thoughts or our sympathies to 15 
diose fearless spirits who hazarded or lost their 
lives on this consecrated spot. We have the happi¬ 
ness to rejoice here in the presence of a most worthy 
representation of the survivors of the whole Revo¬ 
lutionary Army. 20 

Veterans ! you are the remnant of many a well 
fought field.. You bring with you marks of honor 
from Trenton and Monmouth, from Yorktown, Cam¬ 
den, Bennington, and Saratoga. Veterans of Half 
a. Century ! when in your youthful days you put 25 
every thing at hazard in your country’s cause, good 
as that cause was, and sanguine as youth is, still 
your fondest hopes did not stretch onward to an 
hour like this! At a period to which you could not 

37 





Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


reasonably have expected to arrive; at a moment 
national prosperity, such as you could never ha’' 
foreseen, you are now met, here, to enjoy the fello\ 
ship of old soldiers, and to receive the overflowing 
s of an universal gratitude. 

But your agitated countenances and your heavir 
breasts inform me that even this is not an unmixe 
joy. I perceive that a tumult of contending fee 
ings rushes upon you. The images of the dead a 
iowell as the persons of the living, throng to your em 
braces. The scene overwhelms you, and I turn fror. 
it. May the Father of all mercies smile upon you 
declining years, and bless them ! And when you shal 
here have exchanged your embraces; when you shal 
is once more have pressed the hands which have beei 
so often extended to give succor in adversity, o 
grasped in the exultation of victory; then look abroac 
into this lovely land, which your young valor defended 
and mark the happiness with which it is filled; yea. 
20 look abroad into the whole earth, and see what a 
name you have contributed to give to your country, 
and what a praise you have added to freedom, and 
then rejoice in the sympathy and gratitude which 
beam upon your last days from the improved condi- 
2 5 tion of mankind. 

The occasion does not require of me any particu¬ 
lar account of the battle of the 17th of June, nor 
any detailed narrative of the events which immedi¬ 
ately preceded it. These are familiarly known to 

38 





Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 

ill. In the progress of the great and interesting con- 
;roversy, Massachusetts and the town of Boston 
lad become early and marked objects of the dis- 
Dleasure of the British Parliament. This had been 
nanifested, in the Act for altering the Government of s 
:he Province, and in that for shutting up the Port 
)f Boston. Nothing sheds more honor on our early 
listory, and nothing better shows how little the 
“eelings and sentiments of the colonies were known 
Dr regarded in England, than the impression which io 
these measures everywhere produced in America, 
ft had been anticipated that, while the other colonies 
would be terrified by the severity of the punishment 
inflicted on Massachusetts, the other seaports would 
be governed by a mere spirit of gain; and that, as is 
Boston was now cut off from all commerce, the unex¬ 
pected advantage, which this blow on her was cal¬ 
culated to confer on other towns, would be greedily 
[enjoyed. How miserably such reasoners deceived 
themselves! How little they knew of the depth, 20 
and the strength, and the intenseness of that feeling 
of resistance to illegal acts of power, which possessed 
the whole American people! Everywhere the un¬ 
worthy boon was rejected with scorn. The fortu¬ 
nate occasion was seized, everywhere, to show to 25 
the whole world that the colonies were swayed by 
no local interest, no partial interest, no selfish interest. 
The temptation to profit by the punishment of Boston 
was strongest to our neighbors of Salem. Yet Salem 

39 







Webster's First Bunker Hill Oration 


was precisely the place where this miserable proffe 
was spurned, in a tone of the most lofty self-respect 
and the most indignant patriotism. ‘We are deepH 
affected,’ said its inhabitants, ‘with the sense of ou 
5public calamities; but the miseries that are nov 
rapidly hastening on our brethren in the capita 
of the Province, greatly excite our commiseration 
By shutting up the Port of Boston, some imagine 
that the course of trade might be turned hither and 
io to our benefit; but we must be dead to every idea 
of justice, lost to all feelings of humanity, could we 
indulge a thought to seize on wealth and raise our 
fortunes on the ruin of our suffering neighbors.’ 
These noble sentiments were not confined to our 
is immediate vicinity. In that day of general affection 
and brotherhood, the blow given to Boston smote 
on every patriotic heart, from one end of the country 
to the other. Virginia and the Carolinas, as well 
as Connecticut and New Hampshire, felt and pro- 
20 claimed the cause to be their own. The Continen¬ 
tal Congress, then holding its first session in Phila¬ 
delphia, expressed its sympathy for the suffering 
inhabitants of Boston, and addresses were received 
from all quarters, assuring them that the cause was 
25 a common one, and should be met by common efforts 
and common sacrifices. The Congress of Massa¬ 
chusetts responded to these assurances; and in an 
address to the Congress at Philadelphia, bearing 
the official signature, perhaps among the last, of 

40 





Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


| he immortal Warren, notwithstanding the severity 
ct f its suffering and the magnitude of the dangers 
L/hich threatened it, it was declared, that this colony 
mis ready, at all times, to spend and to be spent in 
it he cause of America.’ 5 

fjj But the hour drew nigh, which was to put profes- 
n ions to the proof, and to determine whether the 
uthors of these mutual pledges were ready to seal 
hem in blood. The tidings of Lexington and Con- 
:ord had no sooner spread, than it was universally 10 
elt that the time was at last come for action. A 
pirit pervaded all ranks, not transient, not boister- 
>us, but deep, solemn, determined, 

]■ ‘totamque infusa per artus 

Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet.’ 15 


if 


e Afar, on their own soil and at their own doors, was, 

, ndeed, a strange work to the yeomanry of New 
1 England; but their consciences were convinced of 
.its necessity, their country called them to it, and they 
lid not withhold themselves from the perilous trial. 20 
The ordinary occupations of life were abandoned; 

1 :he plough was staid in the unfinished furrow; wives 
rave up their husbands, and mothers gave up their 
sons, to the battles of a civil war. Death might 
| :ome, in honor, on the field; it might come, in dis- 25 
grace, on the scaffold. For either and for both they 
were prepared. The sentiment of Quincy was full 
in their hearts. ‘Blandishments,’ said that distin¬ 
guished son of genius and patriotism, ‘will not fas- 


41 








Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 

cinate us, nor will threats of a halter intimidah i 
for, under God, we are determined, that wheres< i 
ever, whensoever, or howsoever we shall be calle 
to make our exit, we will die free men.’ 

5 > The 17th of June saw the four New England co 
onies standing here, side by side, to triumph or t 
fall together; and there was with them from tha 
moment to the end of the war, what I hope will re 
main with them forever, one cause, one country, on 
10 heart. 

tj The battle of Bunker Hill was attended with tb 
most important effects beyond its immediate resul 
as a military engagement. It created at once i I 
state of open, public war. There could now be n< 
is longer a question of proceeding against individuals 
as guilty of treason or rebellion. That fearful crisis 
was past. The appeal now lay to the sword, and the 
only question was, whether the spirit and the resources 
of the people would hold out till the object should 
20 be accomplished. Nor were its general consequences 
confined to our own country. The previous proceed¬ 
ings of the colonies, their appeals, resolutions, and 
addresses, had made their cause known to Europe. 
Without boasting, we may say, that in no age or 
25 country, has the public cause been maintained with 
more force of argument, more power of illustration, 
or more of that persuasion which excited feeling and 
elevated principle can alone bestow, than the revo¬ 
lutionary state papers exhibit. These papers will 

42 






Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


♦Forever deserve to be studied, not only for the spirit 
Sfevhich they breathe, but for the ability with which 
le :hey were written. 

To this able vindication of their cause, the colo- 
o.iies had now added a practical and severe proof of 5 
t :heir own true devotion to it, and evidence also of 
ia|:he power which they could bring to its support. 
rej\ll now saw that if America fell, she would not fall 
§ without a struggle. Men felt sympathy and regard, as 
veil as surprise, when they beheld these infant states, 10 
demote, unknown, unaided, encounter the power of 
ill England, and in the first considerable battle, leave 
j nore of their enemies dead on the field, in proportion 
k :o the number of combatants, than they had recently 
mown in the wars of Europe. is 

Information of these events, circulating through 
Surope, at length reached the ears of one who now 
lears me. He has not forgotten the emotion which 
;he fame of Bunker Hill and the name of Warren, 
ixcited in his youthful breast. 20 

Sir, we are assembled to commemorate the estab- 
ishment of great public principles of liberty, and 
J;o do honor to the distinguished dead. The occasion 
s too severe for eulogy to the living. But, sir, your 
nteresting relation to this country, the peculiar cir- 25 
:umstances which surround you and surround us, call 
>n me to express the happiness which we derive from 
four presence and aid in this solemn commemora¬ 
tion. 


43 










Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


Fortunate, fortunate man! with what measure cj 
devotion will you not thank God, for the circum j 
stances of your extraordinary life ! You are connecte* 
with both hemispheres and with two generations 
s Heaven saw fit to ordain that the electric spark o\ 
Liberty should be conducted, through you, from th 
new world to the old; and we, who are now here t< 
perform this duty of patriotism, have all of us lonj 
ago received it in charge from our fathers to cherisl 
ioyour name and your virtues. You will account i 
an instance of your good fortune, sir, that you crossec 
the seas to visit us at a time which enables you t( 
be present at this solemnity. You now behold the 
field, the renown of which reached you in the heari 
15 of France, and caused a thrill in your ardent bosom 
You see the lines of the little redoubt thrown up 
by the incredible diligence of Prescott; defended 
to the last extremity, by his lion-hearted valor 
and within which the corner-stone of our monument 
20 has now taken its position. You see where Warren 
fell, and where Parker, Gardner, McCleary, Moore, 
and other early patriots fell with him. Those who 
survived that day, and whose lives have been pro¬ 
longed to the present hour, are now around you 
25 Some of them you have known in the trying scenes 
of the war. Behold! they now stretch forth their 
feeble arms to embrace you. Behold! they raise 
their trembling voices to invoke the blessing of God 
on you, and yours, forever. 

44 










Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


J Sir, you have assisted us in laying the foundation 
>f this edifice. You have heard us rehearse, with 
>ur feeble commendation, the names of departed 
patriots. Sir, monuments and eulogy belong to the 
lead. We give them, this day, to Warren and his 5 
issociates. On other occasions they have been given 
:o your more immediate companions in arms, to Washi¬ 
ngton, to Greene, to Gates, Sullivan, and Lincoln. 
Sir, we have become reluctant to grant these, our 
1 lighest and last honors, further. We would gladly 10 
' lold them yet back from the little remnant of that 
immortal band. Serus in ccelum redeas. Illustrious 
is are your merits, yet far, oh, very far distant be 
1 the day, when any inscription shall bear your name, 
or any tongue pronounce its eulogy! is 

! ! The leading reflection to which this occasion seems 
to invite us, respects the great changes which have 
happened in the fifty years since the battle of Bunker 
1 Hill was fought. And it peculiarly marks the char- 

I acter of the present age, that, in looking at these 20 
changes, and in estimating their effect on our condi¬ 
tion, we are obliged to consider, not what has been 
done in our own country only, but in others also. 

In these interesting times, while nations are making 
separate and individual advances in improvement, 25 
they make, too, a common progress; like vessels on a 
common tide, propelled by the gales at different rates, 
according to their several structure and management, 
but all moved forward by one mighty current beneath, 

45 











Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


strong enough to bear onward whatever does not sin j 
beneath it. 

A chief distinction of the present day is a com 
munity of opinions and knowledge amongst me; 

5 in different nations, existing in a degree heretofor 
unknown. Knowledge has, in our time, triumphed : 
and is triumphing, over distance, over difference o 
languages, over diversity of habits, over prejudice i 
and over bigotry. The civilized and Christian work 
io is fast learning the great lesson, that difference of na 
tion does not imply necessary hostility, and that al 
contact need not be war. The whole world is be 
coming a common field for intellect to act in. En¬ 
ergy of mind, genius, power, wheresoever it exists, 
is may speak out in any tongue, and the world will 
hear it. A great chord of sentiment and feeling runs 
through two continents, and vibrates over both. 
Every breeze wafts intelligence from country to coun¬ 
try; every wave rolls it; all give it forth, and all 
20 in turn receive it. There is a vast commerce of 
ideas; there are marts and exchanges for intellectual 
discoveries, and a wonderful fellowship of those in¬ 
dividual intelligences which make up the mind and 
opinion of the age. Mind is the great lever of all 
2s things; human thought is the process by which hu¬ 
man ends are ultimately answered; and the diffusion 
of knowledge, so astonishing in the last half cen¬ 
tury, has rendered innumerable minds, variously 
gifted by nature, competent to be competitors, 

46 












Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


>r fellow-workers, on the theatre of intellectual 
operation. 

From these causes, important improvements have 
aken place in the personal condition of individuals, 
generally speaking, mankind are not only betters 
ed, and better clothed, but they are able also to 
mjoy more leisure; they possess more refinement 
md more self-respect. A superior tone of education, 
manners, and habits prevails. This remark, most 
I true in its application to our own country, is also io 
partly true, when applied elsewhere. It is proved 
by the vastly augmented consumption of those 
articles of manufacture and of commerce which con¬ 
tribute to the comforts and the decencies of life; 
an augmentation which has far outrun the progress 15 
of population. And while the unexampled and al¬ 
most incredible use of machinery would seem to 
supply the place of labor, labor still finds its occupa¬ 
tion and its reward; so wisely has Providence ad¬ 
justed men’s wants and desires to their condition 20 
and their capacity. 

Any adequate survey, however, of the progress 
made in the last half century, in the polite and the 
mechanic arts, in machinery and manufactures, 
in commerce and agriculture, in letters and in science, 25 
would require volumes. I must abstain wholly from 
these subjects, and turn, for a moment, to the con¬ 
templation of what has been done on the great ques¬ 
tion of politics and government. This is the master 

47 








Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


topic of the age; and during the whole fifty years^ 
it has intensely occupied the thoughts of men. Th 
, nature of civil government, its ends and uses, hav< 
been canvassed and investigated; ancient opinion; 

5 attacked and defended; new ideas recommended anc 
resisted, by whatever power the mind of man coulc 
bring to the controversy. From the closet and th( 
public halls the debate has been transferred to the 
field; and the world has been shaken by wars of un- 
io exampled magnitude, and the greatest variety of for¬ 
tune. A day of peace has at length succeeded;! 
and now that the strife has subsided, and the smoke : 
cleared away, we may begin to see what has actually 
been done, permanently changing the state and 
is condition of human society. And without dwell¬ 
ing on particular circumstances, it is most apparent, 
that, from the beforementioned causes of augmented 
knowledge and improved individual attention, a 
real, substantial, and important change has taken 
20 place, and is taking place, greatly beneficial, on 
the whole, to human liberty and human hap¬ 
piness. 

The great wheel of political revolution began to 
move in America. Here its rotation was guarded, 
25 regular, and safe. Transferred to the other continent, 
from unfortunate but natural causes, it received an 
irregular and violent impulse; it whirled along with 
a fearful celerity; till at length, like the chariot 
wheels in the races of antiquity, it took fire from the 

4 s 










Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


ai rapidity of its own motion, and blazed onward, spread- 
n ing conflagration and terror around, 
ay iWe learn from the result of this experiment, how 
r fortunate was our own condition, and how admirably 
ii* the character of our people was calculated for making 5 
I the great example of popular governments. The 
It possession of power did not turn the heads of the 
{jf American people, for they had long been in the habit 
of exercising a great portion of self-control. Al¬ 
though the paramount authority of the parent state 10 
existed over them, yet a large field of legislation 
had aways been open to our colonial assemblies. 
They were accustomed to representative bodies and 
j the forms of free government; they understood the 
j. doctrine of the division of power among different 15 
r branches, and the necessity of checks on each. The 
j character of our countrymen, moreover, was sober, 
j moral, and religious; and there was little in the change 
, to shock their feelings of justice and humanity, or even 
to disturb an honest prejudice. We had no domestic 20 
throne to overturn, no privileged orders to cast down, 
no violent changes of property to encounter. In the 
American Revolution, no man sought or wished for 
more than to defend and enjoy his own. None hoped 
for plunder or for spoil. Rapacity was unknown to it; 25 
the axe was not among the instruments of its accom¬ 
plishment ; and we all know that it could not have lived 
a single day under any well founded imputation of pos¬ 
sessing a tendency adverse to the Christian religion. 

49 









Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


It need not surprise us, that, under circumstances 
less auspicious, political revolutions elsewhere, ever 
when well intended, have terminated differently 
It is, indeed, a great achievement, it is the master 
s work of the world, to establish governments entirely ; 
popular, on lasting foundations; nor is it easy, indeed,: 
to introduce the popular principle at all, into govern¬ 
ments to which it has been altogether a stranger. 
It cannot be doubted, however, that Europe has come 
io out of the contest, in which she has been so long 
engaged, wdth greatly superior knowledge, and, in 
many respects, a highly improved condition. What¬ 
ever benefit has been acquired, is likely to be retained, 
for it consists mainly in the acquisition of more 
15 enlightened ideas. And although kingdoms and 
provinces may be wrested from the hands that hold 
them, in the same manner they were obtained; al¬ 
though ordinary and vulgar power may, in human 
affairs, be lost as it has been won; yet it is the glo- 
2orious prerogative of the empire of knowledge, that 
what it gains it never loses. On the contrary, it 
increases by the multiple of its own power; all its 
ends become means; all its attainments, helps to 
new conquests. Its whole abundant harvest is but 
25 so much seed wheat, and nothing has ascertained, 
and nothing can ascertain the amount of ultimate 
product. 

Under the influence of this rapidly increasing knowl¬ 
edge, the people have begun, in all forms of govern- 

50 









Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


aent, to think, and to reason, on affairs of state. Re¬ 
garding government as an institution for the public 
pod, they demand a knowledge of its operations, 

’ nd a participation in its exercise. A call for the 
Representative system, wherever it is not enjoyed, s 
nd where there is already intelligence enough to 
stimate its value, is perseveringly made. Where 
nen may speak out, they demand it; where the bayo- 
Let is at their throats, they pray for it. 
rWhen Louis XIV said, “I am the state,” he ex-io 
>ressed the essence of the doctrine of unlimited power. 

}y the rules of that system, the people are discon- 
1, lected from the state; they are its subjects; it is 
e heir lord. These ideas, founded in the love of 
>ower, and long supported by the excess and the is 
ibuse of it, are yielding, in our age, to other opinions; 
ind the civilized world seems at last to be proceed¬ 
ing to the conviction of that fundamental and mani- 
est truth, that the powers of government are but a 
rust, and that they cannot be lawfully exercised but 20 
or the good of the community. As knowledge is 
nore and more extended, this conviction becomes 
nore and more general. Knowledge, in truth, is 
;he great sun in the firmament. Life and power 
ire scattered with all its beams. The prayer of the 25 
Grecian combatant, when enveloped in unnatural 
:louds and darkness, is the appropriate political 
supplication for the people of every country not yet 
olessed with free institutions: 

SI 










Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


‘ Dispel this cloud, the light of heaven restore, 

Give me to see — and Ajax asks no more.' 

We may hope that the growing influence of en 
lightened sentiments will promote the permanen 
s peace of the world. Wars to maintain family alii 
ances, to uphold or to cast down dynasties, to regu 
late successions to thrones, which have occupied s< ; 
much room in the history of modern times, if no 
less likely to happen at all, will be less likely to be 
io come general and involve many nations, as the grea 
principle shall be more and more established, tha 
the interest of the world is peace, and its first grea 
statute, that every nation possesses the power o 
establishing a government for itself. But publfi . 
isopinion has attained also an influence over govern 1 
ments, which do not admit the popular principle 
into their organization. A necessary respect foi 
the judgment of the world operates, in some measure. ] 
as a control over the most unlimited forms of au- 
20 thority. It is owing, perhaps, to this truth, that, 
the interesting struggle of the Greeks has been suffered i 
to go on so long, without a direct interference, either 
to wrest that country from its present masters, 
and add it to other powers, or to execute the system 
25 of pacification by force, and, with united strength, 
lay the neck of Christian and civilized Greece at the 
foot of the barbarian Turk. Let us thank God 
that we live in an age, when something has influence 
besides the bayonet, and when the sternest author- 

52 











Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


eii 


ty does not venture to encounter the scorching 
)ower of public reproach. Any attempt of the 
dnd I have mentioned, should be met by one uni¬ 


versal burst of indignation; the air of the civilized 
^ vorld ought to be made too warm to be comfortably 5 


' Dreathed by any who would hazard it. 


1st* 


It is, indeed, a touching reflection, that while, in 


be 


the fulness of our country’s happiness, we rear this 


nonument to her honor, we look for instruction, 
at in our undertaking, to a country which is now in 10 
^fearful contest, not for works of art or memorials 
a bf glory, but for her own existence. Let her be 
01 issured, that she is not forgotten in the world; that 
Ver efforts are applauded, and that constant prayers 
n 'ascend for her success. And let us cherish a confi-is 
^dent hope for her final triumph. If the true spark 
31 of religious and civil liberty be kindled, it will burn. 
re i Human agency cannot extinguish it. Like the earth’s 
central fire, it may be smothered for a time; the ocean 
4 may overwhelm it; mountains may press it down; 20 
dbut its inherent and unconquerable force will heave 
2 both the ocean and the land, and at some time or 
^another, in some place or another, the volcano will 
1 break out and flame up to heaven. 

Among the great events of the half century, we 25 


must reckon, certainly, the Revolution of South 


America; and we are not likely to overrate the im¬ 
portance of that Revolution, either to the people of 
the country itself or to the rest of the world. The 

S3 









Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


late Spanish colonies, now independent states, unde 
circumstances less favorable, doubtless, than attende 
our own Revolution, have yet successfully commence! 
their national existence. They have accomplishe< 
s the great object of establishing their independence 
they are known and acknowledged in the world 
and although in regard to their systems of gove 
ment, their sentiments on religious toleration, an< 
their provisions for public instruction, they may hav 
ioyet much to learn, it must be admitted that the; 
have risen to the condition of settled and establishe< 
states, more rapidly than could have been reason 
ably anticipated. They already furnish an exhila 
rating example of the difference between free govern 
isments and despotic misrule. Their commerce, a 
this moment, creates a new activity in all the grea 
marts of the world. They show themselves able 
by an exchange of commodities, to bear an usefu 
part in the intercourse of nations. A new spirit oi 
20enterprise and industry begins to prevail; all th 
great interests of society receive a salutary impulse 
and the progress of information not only testifi 
to an improved condition, but constitutes, itself 
the highest and most essential improvement. 

25 When the battle of Bunker Hill was fought, the 
existence of South America was scarcely felt in the 
civilized world. The thirteen little colonies of North 
America habitually called themselves the ‘ Continent.’ 
Borne down by colonial subjugation, monopoly, 

54 


I 


1 


















Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


id bigotry, these vast regions of the South were 
! .rdly visible above the horizon. But in our day 
ere hath been, as it were, a new creation. The 
>uthern Hemisphere emerges from the sea. Its 
fty mountains begin to lift themselves into the 5 
jht of heaven; its broad and fertile plains stretch 
it, in beauty, to the eye of civilized man, and at 
e mighty bidding of the voice of political liberty 
e waters of darkness retire. 

And, now, let us indulge an honest exultation in 10 
ie conviction of the benefit which the example of 
lr country has produced, and is likely to produce, 

1 human freedom and human happiness. And 
t us endeavor to comprehend, in all its magnitude, 
id to feel, in all its importance, the part assigned is 
> us in the great drama of human affairs. We 
*e placed at the head of the system of representa- 
ve and popular governments. Thus far our ex- 
nple shows that such governments are compatible, 
it only with respectability and power, but with re- 20 
ise, with peace, with security of personal rights, with 
iod laws, and a just administration. 

We are not propagandists. Wherever other sys- 
;ms are preferred, either as being thought better in 
lemselves, or as better suited to existing conditions, 25 
e leave the preference to be enjoyed. Our history 
itherto proves, however, that the popular form is 
racticable, and that with wisdom and knowledge 
Len may govern themselves; and the duty incumbent 

55 









Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


on us is to preserve the consistency of this cheering 
example, and take care that nothing may weaken it; 
authority with the world. If, in our case, the repre 
sentative system ultimately fail, popular govern- 
sments must be pronounced impossible. No com¬ 
bination of circumstances more favorable to the ex¬ 
periment can ever be expected to occur. The last 
hopes of mankind, therefore, rest with us; and if 
it should be proclaimed that our example had become 
io an argument against the experiment, the knell of pop¬ 
ular liberty would be sounded throughout the earth. 

These are excitements to duty; but they are not 
suggestions of doubt. Our history and our condi¬ 
tion, all that is gone before us, and all that surrounds 
is us, authorize the belief that popular governments, 
though subject to occasional variations, perhaps 
not always for the better, in form, may yet, in their 
general character, be as durable and permanent 
as other systems. We know, indeed, that, in our 
20 country, any other is impossible. The principle of 
free governments adheres to the American soil. 
It is bedded in it, immovable as its mountains. 

And let the sacred obligations which have devolved 
on this generation, and on us, sink deep into our hearts. 
25 Those are daily dropping from among us, who es¬ 
tablished our liberty and our government. The 
great trust now descends to new hands. Let us apply 
ourselves to that which is presented to us, as our 
appropriate object. We can win no laurels in a war 

56 






Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


or independence. Earlier and worthier hands have 
gathered them all. Nor are there places for us by 
he side of Solon, and Alfred, and other founders 
)f states. Our fathers have filled them. But 
here remains to us a great duty of defence and preser- 5 
nation; and there is opened to us, also, a noble pur¬ 
suit, to which the spirit of the times strongly invites 
is. Our proper business is improvement. Let our 
ige be the age of improvement. In a day of peace, 
et us advance the arts of peace and the works of 10 
oeace. Let us develop the resources of our land, 
:all forth its powers, build up its institutions, promote 
■ill its great interests, and see whether we also, in 
>ur day and generation, may not perform some- 
;hing worthy to be remembered. Let us cultivate is 
1 true spirit of union and harmony. In pursuing 
he great objetts which our condition points out 
;o us, let us act under a settled conviction, and an 
labitual feeling, that these twenty-four states are 
>ne country. Let our conceptions be enlarged to 20 
;he circle of our duties. Let us extend our ideas 
>ver the whole of the vast field in which we are called 
:o act. Let our object be, our country, our 

ATHOLE COUNTRY, AND NOTHING BUT OUR COUNTRY. 
\nd, by the blessing of God, may that country 25 
tself become a vast and splendid Monument, not of 
oppression and terror, but of wisdom, of peace, 
md of liberty, upon which the world may gaze, 
ivith admiration, forever! 

57 



















By courtesy of the sculptor, Daniel C. French 
Abraham Lincoln 

















LINCOLN’S 

GETTYSBURG ADDRESS 


Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought 
forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived 
in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that 
all men are created equal. 

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testings 
whether that nation, or any nation so conceived 
and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met 
on a great battle-field of that war. We have come 
to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting- 
place for those who here gave their lives that thatio 
nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper 
that we should do this. 

But, in a larger sense, w T e can not dedicate, we can 
not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The 
brave men, living and dead, who struggled here is 
have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add 
or detract. The world will little note, nor long re¬ 
member, what we say here, but it can never forget 
what they did here. It is for us the living, 
rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work 20 
which they who fought here have thus far so nobly 

59 




Lincoln's Gettysburg Address 


advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicatee 
to the great task remaining before us — that from thesi 
honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause * 
for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — 

5 that we here highly resolve that these dead shal 
not have died in vain — that this nation, under God 
shall have a new birth of freedom — and that govern 
ment of the people, by the people, for the people 


shall not perish from the earth. 


6o 










. LINCOLN’S 

SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS 

MARCH 4, 186^ 

i - 

Fellow-Countrymen: At this second appearing to 
take the oath of the presidential office, there is less 
occasion for an extended address than there was at 
the first. Then a statement, somewhat in detail, of a 
course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. Nov/, 5 
at the expiration of four years, during which public 
declarations have been constantly called forth on every 
point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs 
the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, 
little that is new could be presented. The progress of 10 
our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as 
well known to the public as to myself; and it is, I trust, 
reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With 
high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it 
is ventured. 15 

On the occasion corresponding to this four years 
ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impend¬ 
ing civil war. All dreaded it — all sought to avert it. 
While the inaugural address was being delivered from 
this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union 2 o 

61 




Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address 


without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking 
to destroy it without war — seeking to dissolve thet 
Union, and divide effects, by negotiation. Both par¬ 
ties deprecated war; but one of them would make war 
5 rather than let the nation survive ; and the other would 
accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came. 

One eighth of the whole population were colored 
slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but 
localized in the southern part of it. These slaves con-. 
iostituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew 
that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. 
To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest 
was the object for which the insurgents would rend the 
Union, even by war; while the Government claimed | 
15 no right to do more than to restrict the territorial 
enlargement of it. 

Neither party expected for the war the magnitude 
or the duration which it has already attained. Neither 
anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease 
20 with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. 
Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less 
fundamental and astounding. Both read the same 
Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes 
His aid against the other. It may seem strange that 
25 any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance 
in wringing their bread from the sweat of other 
men’s faces: but let us judge not, that we be not 
judged. The prayers of both could not be answered — 
that of neither has been answered fully. 

62 





Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address 

The Almighty has His own purposes. “ Woe unto the 
world because of offenses! for it must needs be that 
offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the 
a offense cometh.” If we shall suppose that American 
slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence s 
of God, must needs come, but which, having continued 
through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, 
and that He gives to both North and South this terrible 
war, as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, 
shall we discern therein any departure from those divine io 
attributes which the believers in a living God always 
ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope — fervently do 
we pray — that this mighty scourge of war may speed¬ 
ily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until 
all the wealth piled by the bondman’s two hundred 15 
and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and 
until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be 
paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said 
three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, 
“The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous 20 
altogether.” 

With malice toward none; with charity for all; 
with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the 
right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to 
bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall 25 
have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his or¬ 
phan — to do all which may achieve and cherish a 
just and a lasting peace among ourselves, and with all 
nations. 


63 


































NOTES 



NOTES 

WASHINGTON’S FAREWELL ADDRESS 


Introduction. — In order to appreciate Washington’s Farewell 
Address, the student must remember that it was written when our 
rountry was very young. Sixteen years in the life of a nation 
s a short time. The Revolution ended in 1783, but the years 
letween the end of the war and the adoption of the Constitu- 
ion counted for little in the development of the nation. The 
eal beginning of the United States as a nation was with the 
idoption of the new form of government, in 1789. Independ- 
:nce had been acknowledged, but our national existence was 
lot really recognized until the new political form had also been 
iffected. 

The development of a nationality was the one great problem 
:hat Washington faced when he became President of the new 
•epublic. This development was both internal and external. 
The people of the different states had to learn that they were 
really one people; foreign nations had to learn that there was 
m this side of the Atlantic a nation, in place of European colo- 
lies. Under the Articles of Confederation, before the adoption 
if the Constitution, the newly formed states were engaged in 
:ontinual disagreement and quarrels. One of the objects of 
.the Constitution, according to its Preamble, was “ to form a 
more perfect union.” Washington was one of the first to see 
the need of a more perfect union, and was a prime mover in the 
adoption of the Constitution. He believed, and rightly, that 
the new frame of government, when actually put into running 
form, would bring about the desired unity of national life, and, 
working within and without, place the United States upon the 
map of the world. _. 

It is easy for us who live to-day, after more than a century 

6S 

It 










Notes 


and a quarter of national life under the Constitution, to recog 
nize the value of the principles embodied in that document 
it required both foresight and faith at the beginning really t 
see and believe what we now know to be accomplished. W 
must not allow our familiarity with the advancement of ou 
country to minimize our appreciation of the mind that coul< 
look so clearly into the future. 

Authorship. — Toward the end of Washington’s first term 
weary of the strain and responsibility of office, he was anxiou 
to “ retire to the shades of private life.” With retirement ii 
view, he consulted with James Madison, a statesman in whosi 
wisdom and judgment he had great confidence, in regard t< 
the preparation of a suitable farewell address to the people, an( 
sent to him the notes embodying his own ideas on the subject 
Madison replied with the draft of an address and suggestions 
of methods of publicity, but urged him to reconsider his deter 
mination to retire, and pointed out the necessity of his con 
tinuing in office. Other friends seconded this appeal, anc 
Washington took their advice, as is set forth in the third para 
graph of the Address. He was influenced in this by his desire, 
to vindicate and establish his foreign policy, which he believed 
so essential to the new republic. 

When, however, the end of his second term drew near, and 
when the beginning of this policy had been really established, he 
saw no further reason for “ sacrifice of inclination to the opinion 
of duty. ” This time he consulted another statesman, one in 
whom he had come to repose implicit confidence, Alexander 
Hamilton, and submitted the original draft prepared with the 
assistance of Madison, with a request for criticism and sugges¬ 
tion. He further requested that the opinion of John Jay, ir 
whose “ abilities and purity ” he had come to trust absolutely, 
be solicited, as to the contents. Upon the receipt of Hamilton’s 
draft, Washington went over the work, and then resubmitted 
it to Hamilton for final revision. Soon after, with a few more 
changes by Washington, it was sent to Claypole’s Daily Adver¬ 
tiser, a leading Philadelphia newspaper, in which it appeared 
September 19, 1796. The final draft, in Washington’s own 

66 







Notes 


mdwriting, is now in the Lenox division of the New York 
, brary. 

These facts are interesting, as illustrative of Washington’s 
anner of enlisting the services of the men best fitted to render 
sistance in matters connected with his administration. It 
to be observed, however, that their work was that of assist- 
its, not creators. The ideas set forth are those embodied in 
s first draft, and though the early part may bear some trace 
the hand of Madison, the general style of the Address is that 
the later papers and private letters of Washington. It must 
[5 remembered that the heavy classical style of Johnson was still 
•nsidered the model when this paper was written, and that 
.lied for a formalism not found in the writings of Webster and 
Lincoln. When compared, however, with other state docu- . 
ents of the period, the Farewell Address will not suffer in point 
comparative simplicity. At any rate, Washington’s meaning 
clear throughout, and thus he meets the first requirement of 
unposition. 

Text. — The text of this edition is that of the reprint of the 
Dcument, made in pursuance of a resolution of the House 
: Representatives, February 23, 1912. The modernization of 
1 ie original punctuation and capitalization should, it is be- 
Uved, make it more agreeable to the students for whom this 
- ork is intended. 

MPORTANT EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF WASHINGTON 

(732. Born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, February 22. 

[751. Adjutant of the Virginia troops at the outbreak of the 
French and Indian War. 

753. Commander of the northern military district of Vir¬ 
ginia; sent with dispatches to the French on the Ohio. 
755. Aide to General Braddock in his campaign. 

758. Commanded the advance guard in the expedition against 
Fort DuQuesne. 

758-1773. Member of the House of Burgesses of Virginia. 

774. Delegate to the First Continental Congress. 

67 








Notes 


— 

1775. Delegate to the Second Continental Congress. 

3:775—1783. Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. 
1787. Presided over the Constitutional Convention at Phih 
delphia. 

1789. Elected first President of the United States, by unan 
mous vote. 

1792. Reelected unanimously. 

1797. Retired to Mount Vernon; commissioned Lieutenan 
General to command the army against France. 

1799. Died, December 14. 

Page 1 , Line 2 . a new election, in the following Novembei 
1796. Under the original provision of the Constitution, eacl 
Presidential elector cast two votes. The candidate receivinj 
the highest number of votes was elected President; the one receiv 
ing the next highest, Vice-President. In both the first and seconc, 
elections, held in 1789 and 1792 respectively, Washington ha< 
received one vote from each elector, and had thus been unani 
mously elected both times. 

It is interesting to note that in the election of 1796, after thi 
Address had been published, two votes were cast for Washing 
ton. 

The electoral votes of 1789 and 1792 were as follows: 


1789. 

Washington 

.69 


John Adams 

. 34 


Ten others 

. 35 

1792. 

Washington 

.132 


John Adams 

.77 


Clinton 

. 50 


Jefferson 

. 4 


Burr 

. 1 


12. In this paragraph and the three following, Washington 
clearly sets forth his idea of the duty of a citizen to serve his 
country in whatever capacity he may be called upon to serve. 
A glance at the chronology on pages 63 and 64 will show how small 
a part of his life since his majority had been passed in employ¬ 
ment entirely personal. 


68 













Notes 


! 2 , 7. what appeared to be your desire, as shown byhisunani- 
ous election referred to in the note on the first paragraph. 

13. the preparation of an address to declare it to you. For 
lis, see the introductory note on Authorship of the Address. 

15. critical posture of our affairs with foreign nations, par- 
cularly England, France, and Spain. England had placed re- 
rictions on our trade; she had not given up the military posts 
i! i the northern and western frontiers; the boundary between 
laine and Canada was not settled. France was on the verge 
; war with England, and was looking for the aid of America 
i i return for her help in our Revolution. Spain was hostile 
; > France, and unwilling to grant any favors to a possible ally 
| i that nation. Accordingly, she was reluctant to grant the use 
! l the lower Mississippi to Americans living on the upper eastern 
ank of that river, and needing it for an outlet to the south, 
he boundary of Florida was also a matter of dispute with 
pain. 

19. concerns, external as well as internal. By the time 

# ^ 

lat this document was issued, considerable advance had been 
tade toward the recognition of the new national government 
1 ; a real government, on the part of the citizens of the various 
ates. The central power under the Articles of Confederation 
id been slight, and it naturally took some time for people to 
:alize that there was a central government that really had power 
> sustain itself. 

external. The Jay treaty with England had adjusted most 
1 : the troubles with that nation as well as could be expected. 

he Pinckney treaty with Spain had secured to the United States 
i le long desired free use of the Mississippi. Sympathy for the 
■ rench Revolutionists had changed to a general disapproval 
■ : their attempts to force a violation of American neutrality, 
he excesses of the Reign of Terror, the discourtesy shown our 
I :presentative, and the behavior of the French minister, Genet, 
1 contributed to this change of feeling. (See also the note on 
•3, 25, Bunker Hill Oration .) 

27. the proper occasion. Washington’s first inaugural, April 
5, 1789. 









Notes 


3 , 28 . circumstances in which the passions . . , were liab 
to mislead. . . . Here is clear reference to the difficulties 
establishing the new Federal Government and the bitter co 
tests between the two political parties, Federalist and Anl 
Federalist. (See also note on 5 , 22 .) 


4 , 22 . The preceding paragraphs constitute the introductio 
and give Washington’s reason for declining to run again, t< 
gether with the feelings by which he was animated. The n 
mainder of the Address , except the two concluding paragraph 
contain the precepts of true statesmanship that make this doci 
ment worth studying. 


5 , 


22. this is the point . . . against which the batterie 
of . . . enemies will be . . . directed. Already the peop] 
had been divided into two distinct political parties. The Fedei 
alists, under the leadership of Hamilton, were in favor of a stron I 

r * 

central government. The Anti-Federalists, led by Jeffersorj 1 
believed in states rights. The former were stronger in the manf 
ufacturing and commercial states of the northeast; the lattef 
in the agricultural sections of the western and southern sec • 
tions. The avowed principles of the French Revolutionists ha' 
found special favor with the Anti-Federalists. The Frencl ~ 
minister, Genet, had really been backed, in secret, by men big] 
in the councils of this party, in his endeavors to gain assistanc 
for the French, even to the point of raising forces to fight wit] 
the Revolutionists. Washington’s policy, as outlined later ii 
the Address , was to maintain a strict neutrality; accordingly 
it was part of Genet’s scheme to discredit the central govern & 
ment and the policies of the Federalist party. The delay o 
Spain in opening the lower Mississippi, combined with a natura 
sympathy for the French seekers for constitutional liberty, mad 
sections of the West fertile ground for such propaganda, anc 
there had actually been some talk of secession and alliance wit! 
Spain. 


6 , 3 . palladium, the statue of Pallas, in Troy, upon whose 
preservation the safety of the city was believed to depend. 

11 . The theoretical advantages of unity in this paragraph 

70 













Notes 


t -e followed by the practical advantages enumerated in the 
llowing paragraphs. 

24 . In the next three paragraphs Washington gives the prac- 
:al benefits to be derived from union. The idea that the in- 
rests of the East were not those of the West was prevalent 
nong the settlers along the banks of the Mississippi. The 
vanish restrictions on their commerce, finally removed by the 
I inckney treaty, stirred them up against the Spanish to the 

t ;gree that an expedition against New Orleans was actually 
•ntemplated. This was one of the schemes by which Gen£t 

I ied to discredit the United States government. The long 
:lay in settling the Mississippi question confirmed the idea 
tat the new central government was disposed to neglect the 
terests of the West in favor of those of the East. This idea 
as made much of by Gen6t. 

7 , 2 . equal laws of a common government. Under the Arti¬ 
es of Confederation a state could levy duties on goods brought 
from another state; the Constitution forbade this. 

13. protection of a maritime strength. The principal 
rength of the United States in the War of 1812 was in the navy, 
hich was largely composed of privateers, or converted mer- 
lantmen, built in Northern ports. 

! 16. improvement of interior communications. Washington 
as among the first to urge national internal improvements 
the shape of post-roads and canals. 

27. Any other tenure. Here is another reference to the 
eling in the Southwest for secession or alliance with Spain. 

9, 27 . The attitude of the inhabitants of the western country 
I ( wards the policy of the central government may be compared 
ith the attitude of the people of the western coast to-day, in 
ilation to the Japanese question. 

10, 3. how unfounded were the suspicions. There was cer- 
tinly some foundation for suspicions in the delay over settling 
le Mississippi question. See note, 6, 24 . In 1785, Congress had 
sen willing to yield the American claim to the navigation of the 
,wer Mississippi for twenty-five years, in return for commer- 

71 








Notes 


cial privileges particularly advantageous to the Eastern/ se 
ports. The Pinckney treaty, however, as noted above (2, 1 
secured the desired rights. The Jay treaty with England w; 
not entirely satisfactory, but most thoughtful Americans agret 
with Washington that it was the best that could be secur< 
under the circumstances. 

15. advisers, .. . who would sever them from their brethre: 

notably General Wilkinson, of Kentucky. He was suspected < 
complicity in a plot to get Kentucky to secede from the unio] 
Later he was courtmartialed for complicity in the famous Bu: 
conspiracy. In his trial it was developed that he had taken 
secret oath of allegiance to Spain, while he was a general in th 
United States army. 

25. first essay. Though entitled “ Articles of Confederatio 
and Perpetual Union,” the former frame of government ha 
little effect in promoting real union. One of the prime object 
of the Constitution, as set forth in the Preamble, was “ to forr 
a more perfect union.” Washington had been among the firs 
to see the necessity of this, even before the close of the Revolu 
tion, and had been among the first to propose a Constitutiona 
convention. When that convention assembled in Philadelphi; 
in 1787, he was made presiding officer. 

11, 17. One of the greatest tasks that confronted Washing 
ton was to get American citizens to recognize the authority of th 
new central government. The lack of executive power in th< 
government under the Confederation had made it necessary 
for the several states to carry out the provisions of Congress ii 
many cases. Internal taxes in particular, imposed by the powe 
so little understood, were most unpopular. The borderers o 
Pennsylvania had paid little attention to the state government 
and were emboldened by their early success to oppose the nev 
taxes. After patient endeavors to compose the insurgents 
Washington called out troops to the number of 15,000, and th< 
law-breakers found out that the new government had an execu 
tive with power. 

Professor Henry James Ford, in his excellent work on Hamil 
ton, tells us that in a letter to Governor Lee of Virginia, Wash 

72 






Notes 





, 

1 




ington said that he considered “ this insurrection as the first for¬ 
midable fruit of the Democratic Societies.” (See note, 19 , 27 .) 

12 , 13 . The few changes found necessary in the Constitu¬ 
tion, in spite of the unforeseen development of the country and 
the many changes in political situations, bear testimony to the 
foresight of the framers of that document. 

The amendments are as follows : 


1791. 

I-X. 

Bill of Rights. (Regarded practically ; 
part of the original Constitution.) 

1798. 

XI. 

Lawsuits against states. 

1804. 

XII. 

Election of President and Vice-President. 

1865. 

XIII. 

Abolition of Slavery. 

1868. 

XIV. 

Civil Rights. 

1870. 

XV. 

Negro Suffrage. 

1913- 

XVI. 

Income Tax. 


XVII. 

Popular Election of Senators. 

1920. 

XVIII. 

Prohibition. 


XIX. 

Woman Suffrage. 


Y . 

13 , 15 . In the discussions of the Constitutional Convention 
j:wo parties developed — the Federalist and the Anti-Federal- 
st. (See note on 5 , 22 .) The success of the Federalists in 
he Constitutional Convention, followed by Hamilton’s success 
n the administration of the national finances, kept the Federal- 
sts in power. The French Revolution and its influence on 
American thought gave opportunity for the increase of Anti- 
i federalist doctrines, and the Genet episode, at first, helped them 
vith the people. Washington’s belief in the Federalist princi- 
)les was so sincere that he could see no other side. 

27 . Here, again, in this paragraph and the next, may be seen 
he consideration of a subject first from a theoretic, then from a 
>ractical standpoint. 


14, 17. distract the public councils, and enfeeble the public 
.dministration. The opposition of Jefferson to many of the 
deas of Washington and Hamilton gives force to this remark. 
Phe political enmity between these two leaders of the two polit- 
:al parties led finally to the resignation of both from the cabi- 

73 







Notes 


net, and thus deprived Washington of the valuable assistance 
they might have given his administration, had it not been for their 
party spirit. In this paragraph is clearly seen also a reference 
to the attitude of the followers of Jefferson in regard to the 
French situation. 

27 . Here is one point that has not found favor with the peo¬ 
ple of the United States. Our history has been largely political, 
and party spirit has been carried to the extreme. Of course 
the Civil War gives the best example of this. 

15, 17 . respective constitutional spheres. The legislative, 
executive, and judicial departments of the government, under 
the Constitution, were designed to be independent of each other, 
and to serve as mutual checks. The tendency of modern prog¬ 
ress has been to enlarge the power of the executive, especially 
during the past few years, under the unusual and unforeseen 
conditions that arose in connection with the World War. 

16, 14 . Compare the last point on page 49 of Webster’s speech 
with this idea. 

17, 10 . Promote . . . institutions for the general diffusion 
of knowledge. In this connection Washington has given us a 
clear example of what a present day statesman calls practical 
idealism. He was not content with the expression of lofty 
ideals; he tried to put them into execution. As evidence of his 
belief in the value of educational institutions, he had, in 1784, 
turned over to Liberty Hall Academy, in Lexington, Virginia, 
a number of shares in a canal company that had been granted 
him by the legislature of Virginia, in recognition of his services 
in the Revolution. In appreciation of this gift, the name of the 
school was changed to Washington Academy. In 1813, it be¬ 
came Washington College, and in 1871, after General Robert E. 
Lee had been its president for five years, it became Washington 
and Lee University. The present income from Washington’s 
gift is some $3000 annually. 

In his will Washington made a specific bequest of fifty shares 
in another company, “ towards the endowment of a university 
to be established within the limits of the District of Columbia, 

74 






Notes 


under the auspices of the general government, if that'govern¬ 
ment should incline to extend a fostering hand towards it.” Un¬ 
fortunately, Congress has never inclined to extend this foster¬ 
ing hand. 

16. public credit. The following table shows how Wash¬ 
ington’s advice has been followed : 


(Mexican War.) 


PUBLIC DEBT OF THE UNITED STATES 
1790. $75,000,000. 

(This includes the debt of the Continental Con¬ 
gress and the various states, assumed by the new 
government.) 

1806. Reduction began. 

1812. $45,000,000. 

1816. $127,000,000. (War of 1812.) 

1819. $96,000,000. 

1825. $84,000,000. 

1832. $24,000,000. 

1835. No debt. 

1845. $16,000,000. 

1846. $63,000,000. 

1852-7. $28,000,000. 

1857-60. $65,000,000. 

1861. $91,000,000. 

1862. $514,000,000. 

1863. $1,120,000,000. 

1864. $1,816,000,000. 

1865. $2,846,000,000. (Civil War.) 

1909. $913,000,000. (Interest bearing.) 

It will be noted that Washington’s advice on public credit has 
been followed. Note, however, the result of the late war: 

1920. $23,778,535,007. 

18, 20. a people always guided by . . . justice and benev- 
olence. The foreign wars in which the United States has been 
involved serve as a proof of how closely the country has followed 
this part of Washington’s advice. 













Notes 


19, 2 . inveterate antipathies. It was natural that a feeling 
of antipathy towards England should subsist in 1796. Man} 
who had fought against the English were still active in affairs 
and the long delay of the British government in making th< 
treaty mentioned in the note ( 2 , 19 ) had not tended to promote 
good feeling. 

27 . passionate attachment. Fondness for the French Revo¬ 
lutionists had characterized the Anti-Federalists. (See note, 
33 , 25 , Webster’s Oration.) Jefferson had been American rep¬ 
resentative in Paris at the beginning of the Revolution, before 
the excesses of the extremists developed, and the struggle for 
the rights of man appealed with particular force to him. A 
large number of Americans, seeing only an attempt to follow 
American example, went beside themselves in sympathy for the 
French Revolution, and even condoned the attempts of Genet, 
the French representative, to violate the neutrality of the United 
States. Clubs were formed on the model of the Jacobin Club 
of Paris, and extreme democratic ideas were zealously cultivated. 
The idea that France, who had helped us in the most critical 
period of the Revolution, was now fighting for liberty was suf¬ 
ficient appeal for them. Washington, however, was wise enough 
to see that Revolutionary France had developed a very different 
proposition, and that the French Revolutionists lacked the 
stability that Webster comments on in page 49 of his oration, 
where he compares the two peoples. It took the excesses of the 
Reign of Terror to dissipate this popular misconception. (See 
also notes 5 , 22 ; 13 , 15 ; 22 , 26 .) 

20, 3 . participation in . . . the wars of the latter. The French 
Republic had declared war on England. 

21 , 18 . rule of conduct. It is a question whether any other 
state dictum has been so often quoted by American public men 
as that contained in this paragraph. The Monroe Doctrine 
is the converse. The two have been considered as fundamenta 
truths by most Americans. Washington’s rule was quoted by 
pacifists before the United States entered the World War, with 
complete disregard of the change of conditions since Washing- 

76 






Notes 


S ion’s day; and it was quoted by many more Americans when 
y :he question of our entrance into the League of Nations came 
' before them for determination. The result of the presidential 
; election of 1920 would seem to indicate that a great majority of 
f Americans to-day believe in Washington’s rule. The attitude 
}f the American representatives in the Armament Conference 
n 1921-2, and their avoidance of anything in the shape of old- 
time political alliances is further proof of our general acceptance 
}f this rule of conduct. In this connection, it is interesting to 
aote that the oft-used phrase, “ avoid entangling alliances,” 
does not occur in the Farewell Address. 

26 . controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign 
to our concerns. Political alliance with France in 1796 would 
have involved us in a war with England, which had become the 
principal opponent of France, and the real question involved 
was whether France should be a constitutional monarchy or a 
republic. 

22 , 4 . On the other hand, the maintenance of neutrality on 
the part of the United States at the present day is not so easy 
as Washington thought. Our situation is no longer “ detached 
and distant.” Modern inventions of intercourse have brought 
the United States closer to Europe than were the North and 
South to each other in 1796. The premise on which Washington 
bases the argument of this paragraph is no longer true; conse¬ 
quently his conclusion can no longer apply. Our experience in 
the late war proves that we cannot “ defy material injury from 
external annoyance.” Possibly the power to defend ourselves, 
as shown in that war, may deter belligerent nations from giving 
us provocation. 

26. existing engagements. The Treaty of Alliance with 
France in 1778 provided that each party should guarantee to 
the other its territorial possessions in America. In February, 
1793, the French Republic declared war against England. Ac¬ 
cording to the strict letter of the treaty, the United States was 
bound to defend the French West India Islands against British 
attacks. Washington laid the case before his advisers and asked 
whether the treaty was still in force, in view of the overthrow 

77 






Notes 


of the government by which it had been made. Jefferson mai 
tained that it was still in force. Hamilton, on the other han 
maintained that the government that made the treaty had ceas< 
to exist, and that therefore the treaty had lapsed. The vej 
existence of the United States demanded that she take no pa 
in the tremendous conflict now approaching. Washingtc 
sided with Hamilton, and in April, 1793, issued the famous pro 
lamation of neutrality, of which he makes mention in the la 
paragraph on page 24. This should make clear what he meaili 
by “ observed in their genuine sense.” It should be noted th; 
the French Republic revoked the commercial treaties made b 
the monarchy, and that Gen6t never demanded the carryir 


lie 

is: 


out of the provisions of the Treaty of 1778. 


i 


23 , 7 . Commercial treaties were necessary for the new natioi 
Before the Revolution foreign commerce had become of tl 
greatest value to the colonies. The new nation needed man 
things obtainable only in Europe, and needed a market for it 
already important products. To establish foreign commerc 
on a sound basis was one of the greatest necessities of the b( 
ginning of our national existence. 

24 , 4 . In this paragraph Washington repeats his most irr 

portant warnings. 'it 

26 . This proclamation was mentioned in the note 22 , 2( 
“This proclamation is of the very greatest importance in th 
history of the country, as it was then first definitely laid dow 
as a policy that the United States was to hold apart from th 
wars and politics of Europe. It proved to be very difficult til 
carry out in practice, and the difficulty was not in any way less 
ened by the conduct of the French agent in the United States 
the ‘ Citizen Genet.’ ” — Channing, Students’ History of the Unite 
States. 

The history of this proclamation forms a chapter in the strug 
gle between Hamilton and Jefferson. The latter held that sino 
to declare war was the exclusive right of Congress, according 
to the Constitution, to declare neutrality must of necessity com< 
within the province of Congress, not of the President. Hamil 
ton realized that the activities of Citizen GenSt, if not curbed 









1 

N ofr e 

vould result in war with England; and war with England would 
p .iave been fatal to the new country. Jefferson finally agreed 
,*;hat the proclamation might be issued, provided the word “ neu¬ 
trality ” be omitted from it.. It is interesting to notice the ex- 
^ ;ent to which the first president sought and respected the “ ad- 

J /ice and consent ” of his cabinet. 

:oi 

3c 25 , 3 . This paragraph is characteristic of Washington’s men- 
;al methods. First came “ deliberate examination with the 
C:aid of the best lights I could obtain then came conviction; 
i Lhen determination to maintain his position with moderation, 
i)yperseverance, and firmness. 

ij 16 . The neutrality virtually admitted by both France and^ 
England at the time Washington was writing was later violated 
.'by both nations. The French violation led to the naval war 
in which nearly a hundred French ships were captured by the 
, Americans. Every schoolboy knows the story of the War of 
1812. In our own day, our attempt to maintain neutrality in 
;s the Great War was futile. 

26 , 3 . There is no “affected modesty” in this paragraph, 
any more than in the opening parts of the Address. 

18 . native soil. Washington’s great-grandfather had settled 
in Virginia in 1657. 


s 


I 


79 



WEBSTER’S FIRST BUNKER HILL ORATION 

Introduction. — On the exterior of Sanders Theatre, at Har 

' I 

vard University, are the busts of seven orators — Demos 
thenes, Cicero, St. Chrysostom, Bossuet, Pitt, Burke, and Web 
ster. This ranking of Webster, placing him not only as the fore 
most American orator but also as one of the seven great orator; 
^of the world’s history, is generally accepted. 

A reference to the chronology below will show that Web 
ster’s oratorical career began before he had graduated from col 
lege. It was not, however, until he had served his first term ir 
Congress and had returned to the practice of law in Boston thal 
he really attracted attention. His argument in the Dartmouth 
College case placed him in the front rank of American orators, 
and his public utterances during the next seven years made sure 
his position, so that on the occasion of the laying of the corner 
stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, June 17, 1825, he was at 
the height of his early power. His subsequent orations, in and 
out of Congress, served but to increase his fame and establish 
his reputation as the foremost orator of the United States. 

Of Webster’s mental power, Lodge says that he had wonder¬ 
ful instinct for seizing on the very heart of a question, and for 
extricating the essential points from the midst of confused de¬ 
tails. According to the same authority, the predominating 
quality of Webster’s genius was an unequalled power of stating 
facts or principles. These two points are clearly manifest in 
the First Bunker Hill Oration. 

IMPORTANT EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF WEBSTER 

1782. Born at Salisbury, New Hampshire, January 18. 

1794. Entered Exeter Academy. 

1797. Entered Dartmouth College. 

1800. July 4- First public oration, at Hanover, New Hampshire. 

80 







Notes 


1801. Graduated from Dartmouth. 

Studied law in Salisbury and Boston. 

1805. Admitted to the bar at Boston. 

1807. Moved to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 

Practiced law; made several public addresses. 

1812. Elected to Congress as Representative from New Hamp¬ 
shire. 

1816. Moved from Portsmouth to Boston. 

1818. Dartmouth College case. 

1820. Plymouth oration. 

1823. Elected member of Congress from the Boston district. 

1824. Speech on appointment of a Commissioner to Greece. 

1825. June 17. First Bunker Hill Oration. 

1826. Eulogy on Adams and Jefferson. 

1827. Elected Senator from Massachusetts. 

1830. Replies to Hayne. 

1836. Received the electoral vote of Massachusetts for Presi¬ 
dent. 

1839. Reelected to the United States Senate. 

1841. Resigned from the Senate to become Secretary of State. 

1843. Second Bunker Hill Oration, on completion of the monu¬ 

ment. 

1844. Reelected United States Senator. 

1850. Again resigned to become Secretary of State. 

1852. Unsuccessful candidate for the Presidency. 

Oct. 24. Died at Marshfield, Mass. 

Page 27, Line 1. uncounted multitude. The procession, some 
two miles long, included two hundred veterans of the Revolu¬ 
tion, forty of whom had fought at Bunker Hill. (See 37, 21 
and 34, 26, respectively.) 

18. The battle of Bunker Hill was fought June 17, 1775. 


28 , 15 . This paragraph is well worth memorizing. 

29 , 18 . Webster gives a broader touch here, by his reference 
to the “ early and ancient colony.” His friend Edward Everett, 
who edited Webster’s orations, thinks that the allusion is to the 
Maryland settlement on the St. Mary’s River. 

8l 










Notes 


30 , 3 . The society whose organ I am. Webster was presi¬ 
dent of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, an organization 
formed for the purpose of raising funds for the erection of the 
monument. 

13 . solemnities suited to the occasion, the Masonic cere¬ 
monies at the laying of the corner stone, just before Webster 
spoke. 

14 . prayers, by the Rev. Joseph Thaxter, who had offered 
prayer before the battle of Bunker Hill. 

18 . high in massive solidity and unadorned grandeur. A 
fine description of the monument. It is of gray granite, in shape 
like an Egyptian obelisk, two hundred and twenty-one feet high, 
on a base thirty feet square. It was completed in seventeen 
years, at a cost of $120,000. Webster delivered his Second Bunker 
Hill Oration on the occasion of its dedication, a year after it 
was completed. 

23 . In this paragraph the real purpose of the monument is 
given. For splendid paragraph development and fine climax 
this paragraph is well worth memorizing. 


33 , 4 . under other circumstances. No people ever achieved 
independence and really placed a nation on the map of the world 
in as short a time as the Americans had. In Europe, with the 
conflicting interests of neighboring states, it would have been 
impossible. If one considers the time that elapsed before Eng¬ 
land or France became as much of a nation as the United States 
was in 1825, one may get the full force of Webster’s statement. 
The United States in 1825 was the nation that Washington had 
in prospect when he wrote paragraph 22 , 4 , of his Farewell 
Address. 

25 . a mighty revolution. The French Revolution really be¬ 
gan in 1789, when the king, under compulsion, summoned the 
States-General, the old French legislative body that had not 
been summoned since 1614. The States-General consisted of 
three branches — clergy, nobility, and third estate. The last 
named, representing at least ninety-six per cent of the nation, 
took matters in its own hands, called itself a “ National As¬ 
sembly,” and demanded a constitution. A “ Declaration of 


82 








Notes 


si-' 

U the Rights of Man ” was issued, similar to our Declaration of 
if Independence; a constitution was drawn up, making plans for 
a Legislative Assembly, to which the king was forced to submit, 
e- Austria and Prussia espoused the cause of the nobles and clergy 
!i who had been driven out of France, and the new government 
declared war on these two powers. The refusal of the king to 
(j ratify measures of the Assembly led to a crisis. A constitu¬ 
tional convention was convened, and its first act was to depose 
1 the king and proclaim a republic. The king was tried for trea- 
e son and executed. The next act was to declare war on Eng¬ 
land. (See note, Farewell Address , 19 , 57 .) 

At first many honest patriots were active among the Revolu¬ 
tionists, Lafayette being one of the most prominent. These 
sought for a constitutional monarchy; but the extreme element 
got control, and swept the new republic along a course of cruelty 
and blood, until the movement culminated in the Reign of 
Terror (1793-4). ■'The Directory followed. Then Napoleon 
appeared ,on the scene, and by a series of steps, first as Consul, 
then as Consul for life, overthrew the republic, and made him¬ 
self Emperor (1804). As Emperor, he “ shook to the centre 
the political fabric of Europe,” overthrowing or subjecting the 
thrones of Prussia, Austria, Naples, Spain, Holland, and other 
less important states. 

Napoleon conquered Spain in 1810. The Spanish colonies 
in America took advantage of the opportunity to assert their 
independence. Between the years 1811 and 1825 every one of 
the South and Central American colonies won its independence, 
except the three Guianas, British, Dutch, and French. In view 
of what Webster says (page 33) about the brevity of the Ameri¬ 
can Revolution, it is interesting to note that it took Ecuador 
thirteen years, and Bolivia sixteen, to gain freedom. 

34 , 4 . from beyond the track of the sun; i.e., the Tropic 
of Capricorn. 

5 . the dominion of European power, in this continent. Upon 

the downfall of Napoleon at Waterloo, in 1815, the states sub¬ 
jugated by him were restored, with some changes in the direc¬ 
tion of constitutional limitation (page 51). Spain was too weak 






Notes 


i 


ft' 


to reconquer South America, and some of the members of the 
alliance that had opposed republican and imperial France, 
showed signs of offering assistance. This called forth the well- 
known Monroe Doctrine (1823), in which President Monroe 
asserted that the United States would consider any attempt 
on the part of the European allies of Spain to extend their 
system to any part of this hemisphere as dangerous to the peace 
and safety of the United States and as an unfriendly act. With 
this principle England was in hearty agreement. Ever since 
the Monroe Doctrine has been a basis of American policies. 
(Compare Farewell Address, 21 , 18 .) 

14 . It is interesting to note the skilful manner in which Web¬ 
ster combines the conclusion of this paragraph with his greeting 
to the Bunker Hill veterans. 


35 , 22 . Yonder proud ships. The Charlestown Navy Yard 
was within sight of Bunker Hill. 

36 , 7 . Prescott . . . Bridge, officers of the American forces 
at Bunker Hill. Putnam and Stark, in particular, won fame in 
later battles. General Brooks was first president of the Monu- , 
ment Association. 

20 . another morn. . . . From Milton’s Paradise Lost. 

24 . the first great Martyr, Dr. Joseph Warren of Boston, 
chairman of the Committee of Safety, president of the Provin¬ 
cial Congress of Massachusetts, and major-general of the Massa¬ 
chusetts troops. In the battle he served as a volunteer under 
Colonel Prescott, and fell as the Americans withdrew from the 
redoubt. 


37 , 23 . Trenton 

Revolution. 


Saratoga, memorable battles of 


the 


38 , 20 . what a name you have contributed to give to your 
country. An undoubted reference to the well-known line in 
The Star-Spangled Banner. 

39 , 5 . The Regulation Act of 1774 revoked the charter of 
Massachusetts, and transferred the seat of government to Salem. 
The Boston Port Bill closed the port of Boston to commerce. 







Notes 


40 , 18. Virginia . . . own. The various colonial assemblies 
e >assed resolutions of sympathy with Massachusetts and Boston. 

1 The Virginia burgesses voted that “ an attack upon one colony 
' vas an attack upon all British America.” 

'j 

t 41 , 9. Lexington and Concord. April 19, 1775. 

14 . “An all-pervading soul inspires the mass, and mingles 
vith the mighty bulk.” — George W. Anderson, Pawling School. 

27 . Quincy. Josiah Quincy, a distinguished member of a 
amily prominent among Massachusetts patriots. He had the 
noral courage to act as counsel for the British soldiers who were 
wrought to trial for the Boston massacre. 

42 , 5 . the four New England colonies, New Hampshire, 
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Maine was a 
Dart of Massachusetts; Vermont was called The New Hamp¬ 
shire Grants. 

13 . a state of open . . . war. The legal status of bellig¬ 
erency. 

21. The previous proceedings of the colonies. Among the 
most important Revolutionary state documents are the Declara¬ 
tion of Rights, the Petition to the King, and An Address to the 
People of Great Britain. The Declaration of Independence was 
I issued a year after the battle. 

43 , 13 . more of their enemies dead. . . . According to the 
British reports of the battle, their casualties were considerably 
more than fifty per cent. 

43 , 16 - 45 , 15 . The skill with which this delicate compliment 
‘to Lafayette is introduced into the oration without disturbing the 
unity is well worth particular study. The third paragraph in 
particular is a model. 

In 1776, the Marquis de Lafayette was nineteen years old and 
a captain of dragoons in the French army. “ At the first news 
of this quarrel,” he afterwards wrote in his memoirs, “ my heart 
was enrolled in it.” Through Silas Deane, American agent in 
Paris, he made arrangements by which he was to enter the Ameri¬ 
can service. He fitted out a ship at his own expense, and came 
to America with eleven chosen companions. He served with- 

8S 













Notes 


out pay, and became a lifelong friend of Washington. Though 
his military services were not particularly brilliant, he was a 
strong moral ally, who by his exalted rank in his own land did 
much for the American cause at a time when French aid was of 
the utmost importance. 

Lafayette was one of the early leaders of the French Revolu¬ 
tion, and was prominent in the early stages of the movement, 
when honest efforts were being made to establish a constitutional 
government. He had, however, no sympathy with the extreme 
measures that led to the execution of the king and the Reign 
of Terror; on the contrary, his attitude was such that the As- 
sembly declared him a traitor in 1792, and forced him to flee 
from France. He returned in 1799, and lived in retirement 
during the empire. When the monarchy was restored, with 
constitutional limitations, he was chosen deputy, and served as 
such the rest of his life. 

Lafayette visited America (July, 1824-September, 1825), and 
made a tour of the country, receiving everywhere popular ap¬ 
plause. Congress voted him the sum of $200,000, and a town¬ 
ship of land. His tour was so planned as to bring him to Boston 
in time to be present at the laying of the corner stone of the 
Monument, and he took part in the dedicatory exercises. 

45, 12. Serus in coelum redeas. From an ode of Horace. 
Lytton renders it: “ Stay thy return to heaven.” 

46, 12. The whole world ... a common field. . . . Al¬ 
ready two lines of sailing packets had been established between 
the United States and Europe. 

21. marts and exchanges. Among the societies for the pro¬ 
motion of the arts and sciences referred to here were the French 
Institute, reorganized by Napoleon in 1803, and including the 
great French Academy (1816); the American Academy of Arts 
and Sciences (Boston, 1780); and the American Philosophical 
Society (reorganized in Philadelphia, 1769). Of course the 
Royal Society of England was older. 

47, 16. And while the . . . use of machinery would seem 
to supply the place of labor. In England there had been a wide¬ 
spread prejudice against the recently invented machinery on 

86 







Notes 


4 

s a 

did 

of 

■la- 

at, 

nal 

ae 


he part of the laboring classes, who claimed that machinery 
upplied the place of labor, and thus threw workmen out of em- 
doyment. Rioting spread to such an extent that legislative 
iction was necessary. It was some time before the British work- 
nen learned that machinery was of benefit to them. 

22 . It might seem that Webster was getting away from his 
subject and branching out too broadly. Note how skilfully 
le brings his oration back to the subject of political liberty as 
in outcome of the Revolution. 


>1 

Is- 

lee 

it 


4 

y 

id 

> 

a- 

3 

:e 


a 


i 

a 

i 

I 


48, 7. From the closet and the public halls the debate has 
>een transferred to the field. Political liberty had been written 
ibout, discussed, and fought over. 

9. wars of . . . magnitude. A reference to the European 
vars that began with the declaration of war against Austria and 
Prussia (see note on 33 , 25 ), and continued throughout the 
ime of Napoleon, up to the battle of Waterloo in 1815. 

11. A day of peace. The Congress of Vienna (1814-5) at- 
:empted to restore Europe to the general political situation that 
had existed before the war. The advance in political knowl¬ 
edge, however, to which Webster alludes in the following para¬ 
graphs, made necessary considerable recognition of constitu¬ 
tional right. Among the states that had more or less of con¬ 
stitutional liberty were France, Holland, Spain, Sweden, Nor¬ 
way, Naples, Hungary, Bavaria, and Hesse. 

29 . it took fire. ... An allusion to the Reign of Terror. 
Under the Convention (see note on 33 , 25 ) the Committee of 
Public Safety held the reins of power. Its policy was to stifle 
ill opposition by terror. Whoever was suspected of being hos¬ 
tile to the established tyranny was thrown into prison. Sum¬ 
mary trials were followed by swift executions. The scaffold to 
the guillotine was crowded. Thousands of the nobility and 
clergy and their supporters perished in this wholesale slaughter, 
which spread from Paris to every part of France. 


49, 13. They were accustomed to representative bodies and 
the forms of free government. Burke, in his Speech on Con¬ 
ciliation with America, in speaking of the American Colonies, 
says, “ Each of said Colonies hath within itself a body, chosen 










Notes 


An allusion to the de 

I of 
|lic 


in part or in the whole by the freemen, free holders, or other frt 
inhabitants thereof, commonly called the General Assembly 
or General Court; with powers legally to raise, levy, and a: 
sess . . . duties and taxes towards defraying all sorts of publi 
services.” 

20. no domestic throne to overturn. 

posing of the French king. 

21. no privileged orders ... no violent changes of prop 
erty. . . . Under the French Republic all titles of nobilit; 
were abolished, and most of the property of the nobles was con 
fiscated. The terrible revenge taken by the lower classes fo 
ages of oppression at the hands of the nobility is clearly set fort! 
in Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities. 

29 . tendency adverse to the Christian religion. The French} 1 
revolt against religion was as decided as that against the nobility 
Christianity was denounced as a base superstition. The Com 
mune of Paris instituted an atheistic festival in the cathedra 
of Notre Dame, and there enthroned a woman as the “ Godde 
of Reason.” 


50 , 12. highly improved condition. See note 48 , 11 , for a 1 
list of constitutional monarchies in 1825. 

15 . kingdoms . . . may be wrested. . . . The history of 
Alsace-Lorraine is a familiar example of this principle. Taken 
from France by Germany at the end of the Franco-Prussian War 
in 1871, it was taken from Germany at the end of the World War, 
and restored to France. The history of Poland offers another 
example. 


51 , 4 . A call for the Representative system. Such a call was 
then being made in Prussia. 

10 . Louis XIV (1643-1715), the Grand Monarch, has come 
down in history as the perfect type of the unconstitutional mon¬ 
arch. The expression quoted, though modern historians would 
place it beside Wellington’s “ Up, guards, and at them,” exactly 
expresses his principle of government. 

25 . the Grecian combatant, Ajax. The lines are from Pope’s 
translation of the Iliad, book xvii. 

88 


i 


* 






Notes 


i- 

»■ 

I- 

ii' 

f 

tjv 

I 

0 ! 

il 

i 

| 

)• 

i 


ii 

! 

I, 


52 , 12 . the interest of the world is peace. This sentiment 
>peals with particular force to the supporters of the League of 
ations, and to many who, while not in favor of that instru- 
ent, are desirous of some workable international organization. 
21 . the interesting struggle of the Greeks. Inspired by 
e example of France, the Greeks revolted in 1821 against the 
.le of Turkey. For eight years a bloody contest was kept up. 
iblic sentiment all over western Europe was in favor of the 
reeks, and many volunteers, of whom Lord Byron was the 
ost conspicuous, lent their services to the struggling patriots, 
uropean politics, as then played, required the maintenance of 
ie so-called balance of power among the European states. Still, 
atesmen who might for political reasons have desired to have 
urkey retain her full territorial strength did not dare, in face 
: public sympathy, actually to help Turkey to subdue the rebels. 
Tien British politics seemed to call for the institution of the 
2w state, however, Great Britain acknowledged the belligerency 
l the Greeks, and later actually intervened in their favor. In 
329, Turkey was forced by the combination of Great Britain, 
ranee, and Russia to grant Greece her liberty. Webster was 
iterested from the first in the cause of Greece. Not long after 
rreat Britain recognized the Greeks as belligerents, he delivered 
forceful speech in Congress, in support of his motion to send a 
Dmmissioner to Greece. 


53, 9. we look for instruction ... to a country. . . . 

ireece, of course, is meant; but here Webster is slightly at fault, 
'he Bunker Hill Monument is an exact reproduction, not of a 
! Grecian column, but of an Egyptian obelisk. The orator’s 
ympathy for the Greek cause led him into this mistake. 

54 , 11 . To call the South American republics “ settled and 
stablished states ” is really straining a point for rhetorical effect, 
'or many years after 1825, the South American states were 
nything but settled. 

29 . Borne down by colonial subjugation. Spanish colonial 
dministration was notoriously oppressive. It will be recalled 
hat this sort of action brought about the intervention of the 
Jnited States in Cuba, and started the Spanish-American War, 

89 





Notes 


which, in turn, stripped Spain of most of her remaining co 

onies. 

55 . 3 . a new creation. “ And God said, Let the waters . . . b 
gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. 
Genesis, I, 9. Note how Webster repeats in this paragraph i 
highly figurative language what he had said in more literal term 
in the preceding paragraph. 

10 . The concluding paragraphs gave Webster’s audience, am 
give the student, something to cherish, something to make ther 
better American citizens. Compare the last sentence with th 
paragraph beginning near the bottom of page 32 , 27 . 

23 . other systems. Constitutional monarchies, such as thos 
of England and France. Experience has proved that such form 
of government are compatible with real self-government. 


57 , 3 . Solon, one of “ the seven wise men of Greece,” as Archon 

3H 

in 594 b.c. gave Athens her first constitution. 

Alfred (871-901), the only one of the long line of English king 
to be honored with the title of “ the Great,” established a stablt 
government in England. 

25 . Our country. Union and the Constitution had been a 
least the underlying themes in almost every one of Webster’i : 
public addresses. The division into “ free states ” and “ slav< 
states ” was already well under way, and it is characteristic o: 
Webster that his last word here should be an appeal for Union 







LINCOLN’S GETTYSBURG ADDRESS 


Introduction. — On the 19th of November, 1863, a portion 
f the battlefield of Gettysburg was dedicated as a soldiers’ 
emetery. Edward Everett of Massachusetts, then considered 
he most accomplished public speaker of the day, was the orator 
f the occasion, but it was thought only proper that the Presi- 
ent, who attended in his official capacity, should make some 
1 emarks. Everett’s oration was scholarly and polished, and 
; iras reported in full in the newspapers of the next day. Lin- 
oln’s speech was, to use his own words, “ blocked out ” in Wash¬ 
ington (tradition says on the back of an envelope) and corrected 
fter his arrival at Gettysburg. It may, then, be considered as 
spontaneous outpouring of the speaker’s mind. 

The newspapers that printed Everett’s oration generally added 
hat the President of the United States made a few brief remarks. 
)ther than this, no immediate public notice was taken of it. 
Dverett himself, however, was not slow to recognize the merit 
f the President’s speech, and the very next day wrote to him as 
jollows: “ Permit me also to express my great admiration of the 
houghts expressed by you with such eloquent simplicity and 
ppropriateness at the consecration of the cemetery. I should 
»e glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near the central 
lea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes.” 

J. G. Holland, then an editor of the Springfield Republican , 
Iso recognized the merit of the speech at the time, and praised 
t highly in his paper. Other literary critics followed with the 
dghest praise, but the general public took some time to recog- 
lize that the world’s greatest short speech was before them. 

Lincoln had established high reputation for clear, simple, 
orceful, and logical speaking in his debates with Douglas, and 
lis public utterances during his presidential campaign and after 
us election had but served to confirm earlier judgment. The 
;jvil War was the crisis of our national history; the battle of 






Notes 


Gettysburg was the crisis of the War. It was natural, ther 


l 


that this occasion should call forth the best efforts of the won 
derful mind that had been first to seize upon the vital point o 
the whole dispute and put it into words so simple that anyon' 
could understand it and so forceful that no one could forget it 

The simplicity of this speech is remarkable. The occasior 
was the dedication of the National Cemetery. Note how skil 
fully Lincoln handles the word “ dedicate,” and how he passe: 
from “ to dedicate ” to “ to be dedicated, ” — the lesson he woulc 
impress upon his hearers and his countrymen. The student o 
concise English would do well to count the number of state 
ments in these thirty lines, and then consider the amount o: 
material for thought that they provide. 

Lincoln begins with the same idea that Washington begar 
with — “ conceived in liberty ” ( 5 , 9 ) — and concludes with the 


j 


i 


same idea that Webster voiced in his closing paragraph ( 57 , 5 ) 
So through these three selections runs an echo of the spirit that 
binds them in unity. 

The text of this edition is from a fac-simile of the draft mad 
by Mr. Lincoln himself for publication. 


W 


IMPORTANT EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF LINCOLN 


it 




1809. 

1816. 

1818. 

1828. 

1829. 

1831. 

1832. 
1832. 

1833- 

1834- 42. 
1837. 
1846. 
1849. 
1854. 
1856. 


Born in Hardin County, Kentucky, February 12. 
Moved to Indiana. 

His mother died. 

Trip to New Orleans on a flatboat. 

Moved to Illinois. 

Clerk in a country store, New Salem, Illinois. 
Captain of volunteers in Black Hawk War. 

Whig candidate for Legislature ; defeated. 
Storekeeper and postmaster; studied law. 

Served in state legislature. 

Began practice of law in Springfield, Illinois. 
Elected to Congress. 

Resumed the practice of law. 

First public debate with Douglas. 

One of the founders of the Republican party. 


A 

k 

ti. 


1 















Notes 


858. Nominated for United States Senate. Public debates 
with Douglas. 

860. Speech in Cooper Union. 

861-5. President of the United States. 

865. April 14. Assassinated. 

The Address. — The unity of this composition is remarkable. 
There are really but three points: the occasion, a transitional 
dea, and the deeper significance of the occasion. The appro- 
)riateness of the memorial, the tribute to those who had given 
heir lives for the nation, and the duty of the living are most 
S kilfully combined in these ten sentences. 

The diction is also remarkable. Critics said of Johnson’s 
jest papers that the author himself could not change a single 
vord for the better. This remark applies with even greater 
orce to this speech. In addition, the prevalence of short, plain 
vords, with delicate repetition of words and phrases, adds to the 
iimplicity that characterizes this masterpiece. 

Page 59 , Line 1 . Fourscore and seven years ago. How much 
Detter for an open-air audience than “ eighty-seven years 

igo,” or “ in the year 1776-” 

2. conceived in liberty. Compare Farewell Address , 5, 9. 

4. all men are created equal. Compare the opening sentence 
jf the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. 

8. A great battle-field. Gettysburg is considered the de- 
;isive battle of the Civil War. In fact, the story of that battle 
has been made an appendix to Creasy’s memorable Fifteen De- 
zisive Battles of the World. 

11. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this, 
[f this sentence were omitted, it might seem that Lincoln were 
belittling the action of the day in the light of the greater duty 
of the survivors. It gives the reader an instance of the consider¬ 
ation Lincoln had for the opinions of others. 

14 The brave men . . . who struggled here. Governor 
Mann of Virginia, in an address to the veterans of the Northern 
and Southern armies at Gettysburg, July 4, i 9 I 3 ) called atten¬ 
tion to the fact that Lincoln did not say “ brave Northern men, 
and claimed that the wording showed that Lincoln “ was big 

93 













Notes 


enough and broad enough to comprehend both South an 
North.” 

60, 7. that government of the people, by the people, for th 
people, shall not perish from the earth. Compare the idea i 
Webster’s last paragraph, “ great duty of defense and preser 
vation.” 













LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS 


Introduction. — Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address is placed 
by general consent next to the Gettysburg Address for the quali¬ 
ties of style that have caused the author to be regarded as the 
master of the short speech. It has the same clearness and vigor 
of expression that mark the earlier speech, the same beauty of 
form, and in the latter part a loftiness of tone unequalled, ex¬ 
cept, possibly, by that of some of the Old Testament prophets. 

In the darkest hour of the Rebellion, Lincoln was requested 
by the little daughter of one of his friends in Washington to 
write in her autograph album. He wrote, “ God will give us the 
victory, A. Lincoln.” The closing paragraphs of the Second 
Inaugural are evidence of the sublime faith that supported this 
great man through what was perhaps the greatest burden ever 
placed upon the head of a nation. 

Page 61 , Line 4. a statement . . . of a course to be pursued, 
the First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861. The main theme 
in this address was the preservation of the Union. That Lincoln 
thought his one great duty, not the extinction of slavery. In 
this address he declared: “ I have no purpose, directly or in¬ 
directly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states 
where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I 
have no inclination to do so.” He claimed that the Union was, 
in legal contemplation, perpetual, and that no state upon its 
own motion could get out of the Union. He further stated: 
“ To the extent of my ability I shall take care, as the Constitu¬ 
tion itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union 
be faithfully executed in all the states. In doing this there needs 
to be no bloodshed or violence, and there shall be none, unless 
it be forced upon the national authority.” 

10. The progress of our arms . . . high hope for the future. 
Sherman’s march “ from Atlanta to the Sea ” had cut the Con¬ 
federacy in two, and had practically subjugated the southern 

95 


Notes 


* 


half. In the north, Grant was closing in around Lee, whose 
surrender at Appomattox came only five weeks after this speech 
was delivered. Two weeks after that, Johnston’s army surren¬ 
dered, and the war was over. When this speech was being 
delivered, all knew that the end was close at hand. 


17 . impending civil war. South Carolina, Mississippi, Ala¬ 
bama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas had at the time 
of the First Inaugural passed ordinances of secession, and the 
congressmen from these states had resigned from Congress. 
Troops were being enlisted and trained in all of these states. 
On April 13, 1861, the first shot of the war was fired at Fort 
Sumter. 

62 , 3 . negotiation. During the session of Congress between 

the election of i860 and Lincoln’s first inauguration, most of the 

• • • • • 'I { 

time was spent in fruitless discussion of proposals for compromise. 

Some Northern conservatives and commercial interests were 

quite willing to compromise, in order to avert war. Lincoln 

would never consider any compromise, for he believed that his 

stand was right. In a letter to Representative Washburne, 

December 13, i860, he wrote, “ Prevent as far as possible any 

of our friends from demoralizing themselves and their cause by 

entertaining propositions for compromise of any sort on slavery 

extension.” 

5 . the other would accept war rather than let it perish. Com¬ 
pare Gettysburg Address, page 59 , line 5 ; also page 60 , lines 7 - 9 . 

11. this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. To a 
Southern statesman Lincoln wrote soon after his election, “ You 
think slavery is right and ought to be extended; we think it is 
wrong and ought to be restricted.” 

In a letter to Horace Greeley, in 1862, he wrote: “ My para¬ 
mount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not 
either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union 
without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it 
by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could save it 
by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.” 

As early as March, 1862, Lincoln proposed a plan of gradual 
abolition of slavery, with compensation by the Federal govern- 







Notes 


' 

ment. Unfortunately, this plan never met with the approval of 
die slave states that had not seceded. 

When General Hunter, commanding the Department of the 
South, issued a military order declaring the slaves in his de¬ 
partment free, Lincoln declared the order void. He added, 
“ Whether it be competent for me, as commander-in-chief of 
the army and navy, to declare the slaves of any state free, and 
whether, at any time, in any case, it shall have become a neces¬ 
sity indispensable to the maintenance of the government to 
exercise such supposed power, are questions which, under my re¬ 
sponsibility, I reserve to myself.” 

As the rebellion went on, the relation of slavery to the struggle 
became more manifest. Lincoln’s long-continued efforts to 
bring about gradual emancipation with compensation failed to 
1 gain support. Then, convinced that freeing the slaves was a “ fit 
and necessary war measure,” he issued the Emancipation Proc¬ 
lamation. The history of the war proves that this measure was 
a means of weakening the Confederacy and preserving the Union. 

17. the magnitude or the duration. The first call of the 
President for troops was for 75,000 volunteers, and the period of 
service was named as six months. At the time of this address 
four years of fighting had elapsed, and there were almost a million 
men in the Union service. 

27. judge not, that we be not judged. Matthew , vii, 1. Here 
is evidence of Lincoln’s consideration for those who honestly 
differed from him. 

63, 1. Woe unto the world because of offenses. Matthew , 
xviii, 7. 

20 . The judgments of the Lord . . . Psalms , xix, 9. 

In the fervid sentences of this paragraph one may read Lin¬ 
coln’s idea of slavery, and may also see that he did not think the 
North had been entirely blameless for the continuance of the in¬ 
stitution. 

22. With malice toward none; with charity for all. These 
words express, better than any written by any biographer, the 
keynote of Lincoln’s character. Probably none of his own words 
have been more often quoted. 







QUOTATIONS 

AND 

OUTLINES 




QUOTATIONS 

FROM WASHINGTON 

Unity of government ... is a main pillar in the edifice of . V . 
real independence . . . the palladium of your political safety 
and prosperity. 

Citizens by birth or choice of a common country, that country 
has a right to concentrate your affections. 

The basis of our political systems is the right of the people ^ 
to make and to alter their constitutions of government. 

The very idea of the power and the right of the people to es¬ 
tablish government presupposes the duty of every individual 
to obey the established government. 

In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember 
that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true char¬ 
acter of governments as of other human institutions. 

Party spirit serves always to distract the public councils and 
enfeeble the public administration. 

Let us with caution indulge the supposition that moralityV 

I can be maintained without religion. 

Towards the payment of debts there must be revenue; to have 
revenue there must be taxes; no taxes can be devised which 
are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant. 

It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and great nation to 
give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a 
people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. 

The nation which indulges towards another an habitual hatred 
or an habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave 
to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to 
lead it astray from its duty and its interest. 

The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, 

99 
















Quotations 




is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as 
little political connection as possible. 

Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none, 
or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in fre¬ 
quent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign 
to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to 
implicate ourselves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes 
of her politics or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her 
friendships or enmities. 

Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establish¬ 
ments, on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust 
to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies. 

FROM WEBSTER 

. . . The great discoverer of America stood on the deck of 
his shattered bark, the shades of night falling on the sea, yet 
no man sleeping; tossed on the billows of an unknown ocean, 
yet the stronger billows of alternate hope and despair tossing 
his own troubled thoughts; extending forward his harassed 
frame, straining westward his anxious and eager eyes, till Heaven 
at last granted him a moment of rapture and ecstasy, in blessing 
his vision with the sight of the unknown world. 

We shall not stand unmoved on the shore of Plymouth, while 
the sea continues to wash it; nor will our brethren in another 
early and ancient colony forget the place of its first establish¬ 
ment, till their river shall cease to flow by it. No vigor of youth, 
no maturity of manhood, will lead the nation to forget the spots 
where its infancy was cradled and defended. 

We trust it will be prosecuted; and that, springing from a 
broad foundation, rising high in massive solidity and unadorned 
grandeur, it may remain, as long as Heaven permits the works 
of man to last, a fit emblem both of the events in memory of 
which it is raised and of the gratitude of those who have reared it. 

We know, indeed, that the record of illustrious action is most 
safely deposited in the universal remembrance of mankind. 

IOO 


% t * 















Quotations 


Human beings are composed not of reason only, but of imagi¬ 
nation also. 

We wish that the last object on the sight of him who leaves his 
native shore and the first to gladden his who revisits it may be 
something which shall remind him of the liberty and the glory 
of his country. 

Venerable men! you have come down to us from a former 
generation. Heaven has bounteously lengthened out your 
lives that you might behold this joyous day. 

You are gathered to your fathers, and live only to your country 
in her grateful remembrance and your own bright example. 

Look abroad into the whole earth, and see what a name you 
have contributed to give to your country, and what a praise you 
have added to freedom, and then rejoice in the sympathy and 
gratitude which beam upon your last day from the improved 
condition of mankind. 

Monuments and eulogy belong to the dead. . . . We have 
become reluctant to grant these, our highest and last honors, 
further. We would gladly hold them yet back from the little 
remnant of that immortal band. Serus in coelum redeas. Il¬ 
lustrious as are your merits, yet far, oh, very far distant be the 
day when any inscription shall bear your name, or any tongue 
pronounce its eulogy. 

In these interesting times, when nations are making separate 
and individual advances in improvement, they, too, make a 
common progress; like vessels on a common tide, propelled by 
the gales at different rates, according to their several structure 
and management, but all moved forward by one mighty current 
beneath, strong enough to bear onward whatever does not sink 
beneath it. 

Knowledge has, in our time, triumphed, and is triumphing, 
over distance, over difference of languages, over diversity of 
habits, over prejudice, and over bigotry. The civilized and 
Christian world is fast learning the great lesson, that difference 
of nation does not imply necessary hostility, and that all con¬ 
tact need not be war. 


IOI 









Quotations 


Although kingdoms and provinces may be wrested from the 
hands that hold them, in the same manner they we 
obtained; . . . yet it is the glorious prerogative of the empire 
of knowledge, that what it gains it never loses. 

The powers of government are but a trust, and cannot be law¬ 
fully exercised but for the good of the community. 

If the true spark of religious and civil liberty be kindled, it 
will burn. Human agency cannot extinguish it. Like the 
earth’s central fire it may be smothered for a time; the ocean 
may overwhelm it; mountains may press it down; but its in¬ 
herent and unconquerable force will heave both the ocean and 
the land, and at some time or another, in some place or another, 
the volcano will break out and flame up to heaven. 

There remains to us a great duty of defence and preservation. 

Let our object be, our country, our whole country, and 

NOTHING BUT OUR COUNTRY. 




FROM LINCOLN 

Every student should memorize the Gettysburg Address. 


102 














OUTLINE OF WASHINGTON’S 
FAREWELL ADDRESS 

Washington was not a candidate for reelec¬ 
tion . Page i, Line 1 

This decision was not from a lack of patriotism 1 , 12 
The acceptance of a second term had been a 

matter of duty. 2 , 3 

The condition of national affairs now permitted 
withdrawal from public life . . . . 19 

He had endeavored to do his duty as president 26 
Se appreciated the support given him . . 3, 15 

Washington takes advantage of the opportunity 
to give his countrymen advice and warning . 4, 22 

Liberty need not be spoken of . . 5 , 9 

I Union is most important; most likely to be at¬ 
tacked by enemies.13 

First, from theoretical reasons . . . 6 , 11 

Next, from practical reasons ... 24 

North, South, East, and West, each gains re¬ 
ciprocal advantages from Union . . 7, 1 

Therefore, Union gives greater strength and 

advantages. 8 , 3 

The country is not too large for one govern¬ 
ment ; try it.25 

103 







Washington’s Farewell Address 


Avoid geographical discriminations; they make 
trouble. The people of the West now realize 
that the central government has thought for 

them.9, 13 

The Constitution was necessary; the Articles 

of Confederation were too weak . . . 10, 18 

Obstruction to national laws is bad for the 

country.11, 18 

Do not amend the Constitution too often . . 12, 13 

Party Spirit is natural.13, 21 

It is bad in theory, leading to despotism . . 27 

It should be discouraged .... 14, 11 

In practice, Party Spirit is harmful . . . 17 

It may work for good in a monarchy; not in 

a republic.27 

Departments of government should be kept sepa¬ 
rate .15, 14 

Religion and morality are necessary for political 

prosperity.16, 14 

Virtue is a necessary element in a republic . . 17, 4 

Therefore institutions of learning should be 

promoted.10 

Public credit should be maintained . . . 15 

Good faith should be maintained with all 

nations.18, 14 

Antipathies against particular nations should 

be avoided . . ‘.19, 1 

Attachments for particular nations also 27 

should be avoided.20, 21 

Foreign influence should be guarded against . 21, 1 

Rule of conduct as to foreign nations: keep 18 


164 






Washington’ s Farewell Address 


* 


out of foreign alliances. They lead to wars 21, 24 
over matters that do not concern us. Our 22, 4 
situation permits us to be neutral . . . 16 

Engagements already made should be met: no 
others should be made . . . • . 22, 22 

Temporary alliances will serve for emergencies 23, 3 
liberal intercourse with all nations should be 
cultivated; but no favors should be expected . 7 

;t is not expected that all this advice will be 
followed; if a part has good results, that 

will be satisfactory. 4 

de believes that he has been actuated by these 

principles • •••••* 

[n relation to the war between England and 
France, our only possible policy is neutrality . 


18 
25 
25, 2, 
11, 17 


[n the two concluding paragraphs, Washington 26,3,16 
expresses his conscientiousness; admits his de¬ 
fects j and concludes with reference to his per¬ 
sonal satisfaction in returning to private life. 


OUTLINE OF WEBSTER’S FIRST 
BUNKER HILL ORATION 


Introduction 

The occasion is impressive 
Historic events are impressive . > 

The discovery of America is impressive 
The settlement is impressive . 

The Revolution is impressive . 


27, 1 
9 

28, 15 

29, 3 
23 








Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


Status 

The cornerstone has been laid .... 
The real object of the monument: not a mere 
record, but to show appreciation of the deeds 
of our ancestors; to keep alive similar sen¬ 
timents ; to foster a regard for the principles 

of the Revolution. 

The Extraordinary Age 
Development of the United States . 

The French and South American Revolutions . 
General progress of knowledge .... 

All in fifty years!. 

Greeting to Bunker Hill Veterans 
Contrast between 1775 and 1825 
Apostrophe to Bunker Hill leaders . 




Apostrophe to Warren 


Transition paragraph. 

Greeting to Revolutionary Veterans 
The result of the war is their reward 
Events Leading up to the Battle of Bunker Hill 
The two objects of British laws, and the re¬ 
sponse of the Colonies. 

The time for action had arrived 
Four New England colonies side by side . 
Effects of the Battle of Bunker Hill 

It established the Colonists as belligerents 
It gave proof of their devotion and power 

Transition paragraph. 

Greeting to Lafayette . . 43, 21, 44, 

Leading Reflection of the Occasion 

Great changes in the world .... 




30, 3 


Heel] 
oi 
The 
E 
The 


25 


1 


32, 27 

33, 

34, 

14 


7 

;, 24 
b8 


26 

36, 6 
24 

37, 14 
21 

38, 6 


26 


41, 6 

42, 5 




fit 

1 


11 

43, 4 
16 

1, 45, 1 


45, 16 


111 


I06 



















Webster’s First Bunker Hill Oration 


The chief distinction of the age is the community 
of knowledge among nations 


8 


2 ' 

21 

3 

14 

28 

> 

>4 

■« 

!1 


' 




The result is improvement; first, individual 
Especially in politics and government 
The American Revolution and the French 

Revolution. 

The Americans had advantages of condi¬ 
tion and character .... 
European nations have gained in knowl¬ 
edge of government .... 
The result is constitutional government 

in Europe. 

The doctrine of absolutism has given 
way to the idea of government for the 

governed. 

These ideas have kept powers from in¬ 
terfering in the Greek Revolution 
rhere is hope for the final triumph of Greece . 
South America has established independence . 
There has been a new creation in South America 
The United States is at the head of representa¬ 
tive governments. 

Dur history shows the republic to be practi¬ 
cable ; our duty is to preserve the example . 
Dur history shows that republics may be per¬ 
manent . 

ndusion 

Dur Great Duty is to defend, preserve, im¬ 
prove. Our object is OUR COUNTRY, 
OUR WHOLE COUNTRY, NOTHING 
BUT OUR COUNTRY . 


46, 3 

47, 3 

22 

48, 23 

49, 3 

50, 1 
28 

51, 10 

52, 3 

53, 7 
25 

54, 25 

55, 10 
23 

56, 12 


23 


107 


















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